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USEFUL 
WILD PLANTS 

OF THE 

UNITED STATES AND CANADA 



BY 
CHARLES FRANCIS SAUNDERS 

Author of "Under the Sky in California," "With the Flowers 

and Trees in California," "Finding the Worth While in 

California," "Finding the Worth While in 

the Southwest," Etc. 



ILLUSTRATED BY PHOTOGRAPHS, 

AND BY NUMEROUS LINE DRAWINGS 

BY LUCY HAMILTON ARING 



NEW YORK 

ROBERT M. McBRIDE © CO. 

1920 



%3 






Copyright, 1 920, by 
Robert M. McBride <S^' Co. 



Published, , 1920 



oiJN 26 1920 
©CI.A570473 



TO 
DOROTHY F. H. 

LOVER OF WILD THINGS 

THIS VOLUME 

IS AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED 



INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT 

ALL the familiar vegetables and fruits of our 
kitchen gardens, as well as the cereals of our 
fields, were once wild plants ; or, to put it more ac- 
curately, they are the descendants, improved by 
cultivation and selection, of ancestors as untamed in 
their way as the primitive men and women who first 
learned the secret of their nutritiousness. Many of 
these — as, for example, the potato, Indian corn, cer- 
tain sorts of beans and squashes, and the tomato — 
are of New World origin; and the purpose of this 
volume is to call attention to certain other useful 
plants, particularly those available as a source of 
human meat and drink, that are to-day growing wild 
in the woods, waters and open country of the United 
States. Though now largely neglected, many of 
these plants formed in past years an important 
element in the diet of the aborigines, who were 
vegetarians to a greater extent than is generally 
suspected, and whose patient investigation and in- 
genuity have opened the way to most that we know 
of the economic possibilities of our indigenous flora. 
White explorers, hunters and settlers have also, at 



INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT 

times, made use of many of these plants to advan- 
tage, though with the settlement of the country a 
return to the more familiar fruits and products of 
civilization has naturally followed. Man 's tendency 
to nurse a habit is nowhere more marked than in 
his stubborn indisposition to take up with new 
foods, if the first taste does not please, as frequently 
it does not; witness the slowness with which the 
tomato came into favor, and the Englishman's con- 
tinued indifference to maize for human consumption. 

Sometimes, however, the claims of necessity over- 
ride taste, and there would seem to be a service in 
presenting in a succinct way the known facts about at 
least the more readily utilized of our wild plants. 
The data herein given, the writer owes in part to 
the published statements of travelers and investi- 
gators (to whom credit is given in the text), and in 
part to his own first hand observations, particularly 
in the West, where the Indian is not yet altogether 
out of his blanket, and where some practices still 
linger that antedate the white man's coming. The 
essential worth of the plants discussed having been 
proved by experience, it is hoped that to dwellers in 
rural districts, to campers and vacationists in the 
wild, as well as to nature students and naturalists 
generally, the work may be practically suggestive. 

The reader is referred to the following standard 



1 



INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT 

works for complete scientific descriptions of the 
plants discussed: Gray's Manual of Botany of the 
Northern United States (east of the Rockies) ; Brit- 
ton and Brown's Illustrated Flora of the United 
States and Canada (the same territory as covered by 
Gray); Small's Flora of the Southeastern United 
States; Watson's Botany of the Geological Survey of 
California; Coulter's New Manual of Botany of the 
Central Rocky Mountains; Wootton and Standley's 
Flora of New Mexico. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

iNTRODUcrroRY Statement vii 

I Wild Plants with Edible Tubers, Bulbs or Roots 1 

II Wild Plants with Edible Tubers, Bulbs or Roots 

(Continued) 17 

III Wild Seeds of Food Value, and How They Have 

Been Utilized 41 

IV The Acorn as Human Food and Some Other Wild 

Nuts 67 

V Some Little Regarded Wild Fruits and Berries . 83 

VI Wild Plants with Edible Stems and Leaves . . 114 

VII Beverage Plants of Field and Wood 141 

VIII Vegetable Substitutes for Soap 167 

IX Some Medicinal Wildings Worth Knowing . . 184 

X Miscellaneous Uses of Wild Plants .... 210 

XI A Cautionary Chapter on Certain Poisonous 

Plants 236 

Regional Index 259 

General Index 269 



THE ILLUSTRATIONS IN HALF-TONE 



Indian woman shelling acorns, to be ground into 

meal Frontispiece 

FACINO 
PAGE 

Prickly Pear {Opuntia tuna), one of the important food 

plants of the desert regions 18 

An Indian of the Great Lakes Region threshing wild rice 

by means of dasher-like stick 46 

Red Maple {Acer ruhrum), the source of a dark blue dye 

in vogue among the Pennsylvania colonists .... 54 

A Western mountain Indian's storage baskets for presetting 
acorns and pine-nuts. They are elevated to forestall the 
depredations of rodents 70 

A Southwestern desert hillside, which, in spite of its desolate 
look, bears plants yielding food, soap, textile fiber and 
drinking water. The man in the foreground is cutting 
mescal 90 

Gathering tunas, fruit .of the nopal cactus, California . . 108 

California Fan Palm {Washington-ia), which furnishes food, 

clothing and building materials 112 

Cereus giganteus — Sahuaro — producing a fn;it that is used 

for wine, syrup and butter 112 

Southwestern Indian cutting mescal {Agave deserti) for 
baking 136 

Echinocactus, a vegetable water barrel of the Southwestern 
deserts 158 

A California Soap Root, Chenopodium Californicum . . 158 



THE ILLUSTRATIONS IN HALF-TONE 



FACING 
PAGE 



A Pacific soap plant (Chlorogalum pomeridianum) . The 
bulb, stripped of its fibrous covering, is highly sapona- 
ceous. The fiber is useful for making coarse brushes 
and mattresses 174 

Tunas, fruit of a Southwestern cactus. Showing how it is 

opened to secure the meaty pulp 174 

Flowering Dogwood {Cormis florida, L.) The bark is used 
in making a medicine similar to quinine, and produces 
also a red dye used by the Indians 204 

Blood-root (Sanguinaria Canadensis) , valuable as the source 

of a bright red dye 224 

Butternut (Juglans cinerea). The bark is the source of a 
dye used for the uniforms of Confederate soldiers during 
the Civil War 240 

Indian woman preparing squaw-weed {Blms trilohata) for 

basket making 252 

Mesquit Beans, utilized by the Indians for food and beverage 270 

Wild Date (Yucca glauca). The root furnishes a satisfactory 

substitute for soap 270 



THE ILLUSTRATIONS IN LINE 

PAGE 

Groundnut (Ajjios tuherosa) 2 

Jerusalem Artichoke {Helianthus tuberosus) 5 

Indian Breadroot (Psoralea esculenta) 8 

Biscuit-Root (Peucedanum Sp.) 11 

Biseuit-Root {Peucedanum amhiguum) 12 

Bitter Root (Lewisia rediviva) 15 

Wild Leek (Allium tricoccum) 18 

Sesro Lily {Calochortus NuttalUi) 19 

Wild Onion (Brodiaca capitaia) 21 

Camas (Camassia esculenta) 24 

Chufa (Ci/perus esculent us) 26 

Florida An'owroot {Zamia sp.) 28 

Conte (Smilax Pseudo-China) 30 

Arrowhead (Snnittaria variabilis) 32 

Water Chinquapin (Nelumho lutea) 34 

Jack-iu-the-Pulpit (Arisaema triphijllum) 38 

Chia (Salvia Columbariae) 44 

Wild Rice (Zizania aquatica) 46 

Islay (Prunus ilici folia) 58 

Hog Peanut (Amphicarpaea monoica) 60 

Mesquit (Prosopis juliflora) 62,63 

Jojoba (Simmondsia Calif ornica) 70 

Buffalo-Berry (Shepherdia argentea) 84 

Tomato del Campo (Phi/salis long if alia) 88 

Service-Berry (Amelanchier Canadensis) 90 

American Hawthorn (Crataegus mollis) 93 

Manzanita (Arctostapliylos Manzanita) 95 

Oregon Grape (Berberis aquifolium) 97,98 

May Apple (Podophyllum peltatum) 99 

Salal (Gaultheria Shallon) 103 

Bracken Shoots (Pteris aquilina) 115 



THE ILLUSTRATIONS IN LINE 

PAGE 

Chicory {Cichorium Intyhus) 118 

Milkweed {Asclepias Syriaca) 120 

Wild Rhubarb {Rumex hymenosepalus) 122 

Winter Cress {Barharea vulgaris) 125 

Miner's Lettuce {Montia perfoliata) 130 

New Jersey Tea {C eanothus Americanus) 143 

Spicewood {Lindera Benzoin) 146 

Yerba Buena {Micromeria Douglasii) 151 

Sumac {Rhus glabra) 153 

Lemonade-Berry {Rhus integrifolia) 155 

Cassena {Ilex vomitoria) 163 

California Soap-Plant {Chlorogalum pomeridianum) . 171,172 

Soap-Berry {Sapindus marginatus) 178 

Missouri Gourd {Cucurbita foetidissima) 180 

Bouncing Bet {Saponaria ojjicinalis) 182 

Wild Senna {Cassia Marylandica) 187,188 

Boneset {Eupatorium perfoliatum) 190 

Wild Cherry {Prunus serotina) 191 

Dittany {C'unila Mariana) 193 

Cascara Sagrada {Rhamnus Californica) 196 

Yerba Santa {Eriodictyon glutinosum) 199 

Yerba Mansa {Anemopsis Californica) 201 

Creosote-Bush {Larrea Mexicana) 203 

Canchalagua {Erythraea venusta) 208 

Indian Hemp {A^jocynum cannabinum) .... 212,213 

Puceoon {Lithospernum canescens) 224 

Kinnikinnik {Camus sericea) 226 

Sweet Colt's-Foot {Petasites palmata) 233 

Candleberry {Myrica Carolinensis) 235 

Death Cup {Amanita r)halloides) 237 

Water Hemlock {Cicuta maculata) 238 

Poison Hemlock {Conium maculatum) 241 

Moonseed {Menispermum Canadense) 243 

Loco- Weed {Astragalus mollissimus) 246 

Jimson-Weed {Datura Stramonium) 248 

Mescal-Button {Lophophora Williamsii) 253 

Swamp Sumac {Rhus venenata) 255 

Poison Ivy {Rhus Taxicodendron) 256 



► 



USEFUL WILD PLANTS 



CHAPTER I 

WILD PLANTS WITH EDIBLE TUBERS, 
BULBS OR ROOTS 

Your greatest want is you want much of meat. 
Why should you want? Behold the earth hath roots. 

Timon of Athens. 

THE plant life of the New World was always a 
subject of keen interest to the early explorers, 
whose narratives not only abound in quaint allu- 
sions to the new and curious products of Flora that 
came under their notice, but also record for many 
of our familiar plants uses that are a surprise to 
most modern readers. In that famous compilation 
of travelers' tales, published in England some three 
centuries ago under the title of ' ' Purchas : His Pil- 
grimage," it is asserted of the tubers of a certain 
plant observed in New England that ''boiled or 
sodden they are very good meate"; and elsewhere in 
Master Purchas 's volumes there is note of the abun- 

1 



USEFUL WILD PLANTS 

dance of the same tubers, which were sometimes as 
many as ''forty together on a string, some of them 
as big as hen's eggs." 




Groundnut 
(Apios tuherosa) 

This plant is readily identifiable as the Groundnut 
— Apios tuherosa, Moench., of the botanists — of fre- 
quent occurrence in marshy grounds and moist 

2 



EDIBLE TUBERS, BULBS OR ROOTS 

thickets throughout a large part of the United States 
and Canada from Ontario to Florida and westward 
to the Missouri River basin. It is a climbing peren- 
nial vine with milky juice and leaves composed of 
usually 5 to 7 leaflets. To the midsummer rambler 
it betrays its presence by ithe violet-like fragrance 
exhaled by bunchy racemes of odd, bro^vnish-purple 
flowers of the type of the pea. Neither history nor 
tradition tells us what lucky Indian first chanced 
upon the pretty vine's prime secret, that store of 
roundish tubers borne upon underground stems, 
which made it so valuable to the red men that they 
eventually took to cultivating it about some of their 
villages. Do not let the name Groundnut cause you 
to confuse this plant with the one that yields the 
familiar peanut of city street stands, which is quite 
a different thing. The Groundnut is really no nut 
at all but a starchy tuber, which, when cooked, tastes 
somewhat like a white potato. Indeed, Dr. Asa 
Gray expressed the belief that had civilization 
started in the New World instead of the Old, this 
would have been the first esculent tuber to be de- 
veloped and would have maintained its place in 
the same class with the potato. 

Narratives of white travelers in our American 
wilderness bear abundant evidence to the Ground- 

3 



USEFUL WILD PLANTS 

nut's part in saving them from serious hunger. 
Being a vegetable, it made a grateful comjjlement 
to the enforced meat diet of pioneers and explorers ; 
and Major Long, whose share in making known the 
Rocky Mountain region to the world is commemo- 
rated in the name of one of our country's loftiest 
peaks, tells in his journal of his soldiers' finding 
the little tubers in quantities of a peck or more 
hoarded up in the brumal retreats of the field mice 
against the lean days of winter. They may be 
cooked either by boiling or by roasting. 

Though the Groundnut has so far failed of se- 
curing a footing in the gardens of civilization, there 
is another tuber-bearing plant growing wild in the 
United States that has a recognized status in the 
world's common stock of vegetables. This is a 
species of Sunflower {Helianthus tuberosus, L.), the 
so-^called Jerusalem Artichoke. It is indigenous in 
moist, alluvial ground from middle and eastern 
Canada southward to Georgia and west to the Mis- 
sissippi Valley, attaining a height at times of 10 
feet or more. The French explorers in the St. 
Lawrence region in the early seventeenth century 
saw the tubers in use by the Indians and found 
them so palatable when cooked, suggesting arti- 
chokes, that they sent specimens back to France. 

4 




Jebusaxem Artichoke 
(Helianthus tuberosusj 



USEFUL WILD PLANTS 

There they caught the popular taste and under the 
name of pommes de Canada, batatas de Canada or 
Canadiennes, th'eir cultivation spread. In Italy they 
were grown in the famous Farnese gardens and 
called girasole articiocco, that is, Sunflower arti- 
choke. A perverted pronunciation of the Italian by 
the English (who became interested in the plant and 
were growing it extensively as early as 1621) ac- 
counts for the otherwise unaccountable association 
of Jerusalem with it. The tubers (borne at the tip 
of horizontal rootstocks) are in the wild plant but 
an inch or two in diameter, but in cultivation they 
may be much larger, as well as better flavored. 
They reach their maximum development in the au- 
tumn, when they may be taken up and stored in 
pits for mnter use; or, since frost does not injure 
them, they may be left in the ground all winter, and 
dug in the spring. In spite of the Jerusalem Arti- 
choke's popularity as a vegetable abroad, Americans 
have so far been indifferent to it, except as feed for 
cattle and hogs — another instance of the prophet's 
lack of honor in his own country.^ 

1 There are about 40 species of wild sunflowers growing within 
the borders of the United States, and it is not always easy to 
identify some given species. The Artichoke Sunflower is a perennial 
with hairy, branching stems 6 to 12 feet tall, and rough, ovate leaves, 
taper pointed, toothed at the edges, 4 to 8 inches long and IV2 
to 3 inches wide, narrowing at the base to a rather long footstalk. 

6 



EDIBLE TUBERS, BULBS OR ROOTS 

Upon diy, elevated plains in and contiguous to the 
Missouri Kiver basin ranging from Saskatchewan 
through Montana and the Dakotas southward to 
Texas, you may find, where the plough has not ex- 
terminated it, another famous wild food plant — the 
Indian Bread-root of the American pioneers, known 
to them also as Prairie Turnip and Prairie Potato, 
and io the French Canadians as pomme de prairie 
and pomme blanche. Botanically it is Psoralea escu- 
lenta, Pursh, and its smaller cousin P. hypogaea, 
Nutt. It is a rather low, rough-hairy herb, resinous- 
dotted, with long-stalked leaves divided into five 
fingers, and bearing dense spikes of small bluish 
flowers like pea blossoms in shape. The tuberous 
root, a couple of inches in length, resembles a minia- 
ture sweet potato. Its nutritious properties were 
well known to Indians and such whites of other days 
as had any respect for the aboriginal dietary; and 
Indian women found a regular sale for it among the 
caravans of white traders, trappers and emigrants 
that traveled the far western plains in pre-railroad 

Flowers yellow, both disk and rays, the latter numbering 12 to 
20, and 1 to lyo inches long. There is another species, H. 
gigantetis, L., one form of which growing in moist ground in western 
Canada has thickened, tuber-like roots which are similarly edible. 
These are the "Indian potato" of the Assiniboine Indians. Mr. 
W. N. Clute, in "The American Botanist," February, 1918, noted 
that the prairie species, Eelianthus laetifloriis, Pcrs., also bears 
tubers, which are little inferior to those of H. tuberosus. 

7 



USEFUL WILD PLANTS 

times. The fresh tubers, dug in late summer, may 
be eaten raw with a dressing of oil, vinegar and 




Indian Bread-root 
(Psoralea esculentaj 

salt, or they may be boiled or roasted. The Indians 
(who were habitual preservers of vegetable foods 

8 



EDIBLE TUBERS, BULBS OR ROOTS 

for winter use) were accustomed to save a portion 
of the Bread-root harvest, first slicing the tubers 
and then drying them in the sun or over a slow 
fire. The dried article was ground between stones 
and added to stews or soups, or mixed with water 
and baked in the form of cakes. The heart of the 
tuber is white and granular, and, according to an 
analysis quoted by Dr. Havard,^ contains 70% 
starch, 9% nitrogenous matter and 5% sugar. Some 
attempts have been made to introduce it into culti- 
vation as a rival of the potato, but the latter is so 
well entrenched in the popular regard that nothing 
has come of the eifort. As a resource for those 
who are cut off from a potato supply, however, this 
free offering of Nature should be better known. 
John Colter, one of Lewis and Clarke's men, escap- 
ing from some Blackfeet who were intent upon 
killing him, lived for a week entirely upon these 
Bread-root tubers, which he gathered as he made 
his painful way, afoot, wounded, and absolutely 
naked, back to the settlements of the whites. 

There are, by the way, two wild species of true 
potatoes indigenous to the mountains of New Mexico 
and Arizona — Solanum tuberosum horeale, Gray, and 

2 "Food Plants of the North American Indians," Bulletin Torrey 
Botanical Club, Vol. 22, No. 3. 



USEFUL WILD PLANTS 

S. Jamesii, Torr. The tubers are about the size of 
grapes, are quite edible when cooked and long ago 
attracted the attention of the Navajo and other 
Indians, who use them. And curiously in contrast 
to this the sweet potato of cultivation has a wild 
cousin in the United States {Ipomoea pandurata, 
Meyer) with a huge, tuberous root weighing some- 
times 20 pounds, popularly called "man-of-the- 
earth." It is found in dry ground throughout the 
eastern United States, a trailing or slightly climbing 
vine with flowers like a morning glory. So obvious 
a root could hardly have escaped the Indian quest 
for vegetables, and as a matter of fact it was eaten 
to some extent after long roasting. 

There is a plant family — the Umbelliferae — that 
has given to our gardens carrots, parsnips, celery 
and parsley. It includes also a number of wild 
members with food value, occurring principally in 
the Rocky Mountain region westward to the Pacific. 
Among these the genus Peiicedaniim, represented in 
western North America by over 50 species, is note- 
worthy because of the edible tuberous roots of 
several species. Of these the following may be 
noted, adopting Dr. Havard's enumeration in his 
paper above quoted: P. Canhyi, C. and E. (the 
chuklusa of the Spokane Indians) ; P. eurycarpum, 

10 



EDIBLE TUBERS, BULBS OR ROOTS 



C. and R. (the skelaps of the Spokanes) ; P. Geyeri, 
Wats.; P. amhiguum, T. and G., P. cous, Wats. 
(the cow-as of the In- 
dians). The tubers may 
be consumed raw and in 
that state have a celery 
flavor. The most usual 
method of use among the 
Indians, however, was to 
remove the rind, dry the 
inside portion, and pul- 
verise it. The flour 
would then be mixed 
with water, flattened into 
cakes and dried in the 
sun or baked. These 
cakes, according to 
Palmer,^ were custom- 
arily about half an inch 
thick but a yard long by 
a foot wide, with a hole 
in the middle, by which 
they could be tied to the saddle of the traveler. The 
taste of such cakes is rather like stale biscuits. On 




Biscuit-Root 
( Peucedanum 8p.) 



3 Edward Palmer, "Food Products of the North 
Indians," Ann. Kept. U. S. Dept. Agriculture, 1870, 

11 



American 




Biscuit-Root 

(Peucedanum ambiguum) 



12 



EDIBLE TUBERS, BULBS OR ROOTS 

this account, the Peucadanums were commonly 
termed Biscuit-root by the white Americans. The 
Canadian French call them racine blancJie. The 
genus is marked by leaves pinnate in some species, 
finely dissected in others, sometimes stemless and 
never tall, and with small white or yellow flowers 
disposed in umbels like those of the carrot or parsley. 
Novices, however, should be warned that the Um- 
belliferae include several poisonous species, and the 
investigator should be well assured of the identity 
of his plant before experimenting with it. 

Then there is Yamp, of this same family, and 
cousin to the caraway. It is the botanists' Carum 
Gairdneri, B. and H. — a slender, smooth herb, some- 
times four feet high, with scanty pinnate leaves 3- to 
7-parted and white flowers like the carrot's, growing 
usually on diy hillsides in mountainous country 
from British Columbia to Southern California and 
eastward to the Rockies. The clustered, spindle- 
shaped roots are about half an inch thick, and raw 
have an agreeable, nutty taste, with a considerable 
sugar content. Not only Indians but white settlers 
also have proved the nutritive value of this root, 
eating it either raw or cooked. In meadows and 
along stream borders in Central California a nearly 
related species {Carum Kelloggii, Gray) frequently 

13 



USEFUL WILD PLANTS 

occurs and goes among the whites by the name of 
Wild Anise.* Its roots bear in greater or less 
abundance flattisli tubers, which are serviceable in 
the same way as Yamp. 

A more famous root of the Pacific Slope than 
Yamp is the Bitterroot {Lewisia rediviva, Pursh), 
the racine amere of the French explorers, and found 
from Arizona north -to Montana (where it has given 
name to the Bitterroot Mountains and Bitterroot 
River) and west to the Pacific. It is a member of 
the Portulaca family, with showy, many-petaled 
white or pink blossoms sometimes two inches across 
and opening in the sunshine close -to the ground, in 
form like a spoked wheel. Montana has adopted it 
as her State flower. It is one of the marvels in the 
history of alimentation that the unappetizing roots 
of this plant, intensely bitter when raw and smelling 
like tobacco when boiling, should have secured a 
stable place in any human bill of fare. Neverthe- 
less, by the Indians of the far Northwest it has been 
extensively consumed from time immemorial, and 
explorers' journals contain many references to ab- 

4 Not to be confused with the mis-called Sweet Anise, which 
is really Fennel, the introduced Foeniculuin vuJgare. The latter is 
abundantly clothed with large, finely dissected leaves of a pronounced 
licorice flavor and has yellow flowers; while the Carum bears white 
flowers and its leaves are sparse and pinnate with simple seg- 
ments, 

14 



,^^^ 




BiTTERROOT 

(LeuAsia rediviva) 



15 



USEFUL WILD PLANTS 

original ''spreads" put before them in which spat- 
lum, as the Oregon Indians called it, had a prominent 
place. Boiling has the effect of dissipating the 
bitterness ; and the white heart of the root, which is 
starchy and mucilaginous, is certainly nutritious, 
though ideas as to its palatability differ. The In- 
dian practice is to dig the roots in the spring, at 
which time the brownish bark slips off more easily 
than after the plant has flowered; and as 'the bitter 
principle is mainly resident in the bark, it is desir- 
able to reject this before cooking. A noteworthy 
character of the root is its tenacity of life. Speci- 
mens that have been dipped in boiling water, dried 
and laid away in an herbarium for over a year, 
have been kno\\ai to revive on being put in the 
ground again, to grow and to produce flowers. An 
Eastern cousin of the Bitterroot is the charming 
woodland flower of early spring called Spring 
Beauty {Claytonia Virginica, L.). It rises from a 
small, deep-seated, round tuber of starchy composi- 
tion and nutty flavor, which might serve at a pinch 
to stave off starvation, and has indeed so served the 
aborigines. 



16 



CHAPTER II 

WILD PLANTS WITH EDIBLE TUBERS, 
BULBS OR ROOTS (Continued) 

IT is a character of the Lily family that the plants 
are usually produced from subterranean bulbs or 
corms, and many such growing mid in the United 
States are of proved nutritiousness and palatability. 
Among these, for instance, are species of Allium, 
wild onion or leek, one of which particularly {A. 
tricoccum, Ait.) is recommended by those who have 
tried it for the sweetness and flavor of its young 
bulbs. It inhabits rich woodlands of the eastern 
Atlantic States north of South Carolina, its umbel 
of white flowers borne on naked stalks, appearing 
in June or July after its rather broad, odorous leaves 
have withered away. It is the Pacific Coast, how- 
ever, that has a special fame for edible wild bulbs, 
many of which are known to the world at large only 
for the beauty of their flowers. There the Indians 
have, from before history began, been consuming 
such bulbs either raw or cooked. To some extent, 

17 





Wild Leek 
(Allium tricoccum) 



18 



EDIBLE TUBERS, BULBS OR ROOTS 



also, they have been drawTi upon for food by white 
travelers and settlers — the most palatable species 
being of the genera Calochortus, Brodiaea and 
Camassia, and com- 
monly called * ' In- 
dian potatoes." The 
genus Calochortus 
furnishes the flower 
gardens of both hemi- 
spheres with the 
charming Mariposa 
Tulips, and few who 
enjoy their beauty re- 
alize the gastronomic 
possibilities of the 
homely, farinaceous 
corms out of which 
the lovely blossoms 
spring. The species 
most widely known as 
a food source is Calo- 
chortus Nuttallii, T. 
and G., the Sego Lily, which has the distinction of 
being Utah's State flower. It may be recognized by 
its showy, tulip-shaped blossoms, whitish or lilac 
with a purple spot above the yellow heart of the 

19 




Sego Lily 
(Calochortus Nuttallii) 



USEFUL WILD PLANTS 

flower, the leaves few and grass-like. It is in- 
digenous to an extensive territory ranging from 
Dakota to Mexico and westward to the Pacific 
Coast. It was, I believe, a common article of diet 
among the first Mormons in Utah, under the 
name "Wild Sago," through a misunderstanding, 
perhaps, of the word "Sego," which is the Ute 
Indian term for this plant. A California species 
(C. venustus, Benth.) with white or lilac flowers 
variously tinged or blotched with red, yellow or 
brown, is also highly esteemed for its sweet corms. 
The cooking may be done by the simple process 
known to campers of roasting in hot ashes, or by 
steaming in pits, a method tlM will be described 
later on. 

Brodiaea is a genus comprising numerous species, 
of which the so-called California Hyacinth, Grrass- 
nut or Wild Onion {B. capitata, Benth.), common 
throughout the State, is perhaps the best known. 
Its clustered, pale blue flowers bunched at the tip of 
a slender stem are a familiar sight in grassy places 
in spring. The bulbs are about the size of marbles 
and noticeably mucilaginous. Eaten raw they seem 
rather flat at first, but the taste grows on one very 
quickly. They are also very good if boiled slowly 
for a half hour or so. The Harvest Brodiaea {B. 

20 



EDIBLE TUBERS, BULBS OR ROOTS 



grandiflora, Smith), with clusters of blue, funnel- 
shaped flowers like little blue lilies, is another 
familiar species 
common in fields 
and grassy glades 
from Central Cali- 
fornia northward to 
Washington. Its 
bulbs are best cook- 
ed, as by slow roast- 
ing in hot ashes, 
which develops the 
sweetness. 

But the liliaceous 
bulb that has enter- 
ed to the most im- 
portant extent in- 
to the menus both 
of aborigines and 
white pioneers is 
the Camas or Qua- 
mash — * * the queen 
root of this clime," 
as Father De Smet 
puts it in his ''Oregon Missions." It is a hand- 
some plant when in flower, which is in early 

21 




Wild Onion 
odiaea capitata) 



USEFUL WILD PLANTS 

summer. The 6-parted, usually blue blossoms, an 
inch or more across, occur in ample racemes at the 
top of stalks a foot or two high ; the leaves all radical 
and grass-like. The bulb somewhat resembles 
a small onion, but is almost tasteless in the raw state. 
The range of the plant is from Idaho and Utah west- 
ward to central California, Oregon and Washington ; 
and when undisturbed it grows so abundantly in open 
meadows and swampy lands as to convert them at a 
distance into the appearance of blue lakes of water. 
John K. Townsend, a Philadelphian who published 
an interesting narrative of a journey to the Rocky 
Mountains in 1839, has left us a pleasant, old-fash- 
ioned picture of a Camas feast in central Idaho. 
*'In the afternoon," he writes, ''we arrived at 
Kamas Prairie, so called from a vast abundance of 
this succulent root which it produces. The plain is 
a beautiful level one of about a mile over, hemmed 
in by low, rocky hills, and in spring the pretty blue 
flowers of the Kamas are said to give it a peculiar 
and very pleasing appearance. . . . We encamped 
here near a small branch of the Mallade River; and 
soon after all hands took their kettles and scattered 
over the prairie to dig a mess of Kamas. We were 
of course eminently successful, and were furnished 
with an excellent and wholesome meal. When boiled, 

22 



EDIBLE TUBERS, BULBS OR ROOTS 

this little root is palatable and somewhat resembles 
the taste of the common potato. The Indian method 
of preparing it, however, is the best." 

This method, which embodies really the principle 
of our present day fireless cooker and has been em- 
ployed by the aborigines from time immemorial for 
cooking numberless things, is briefly this : A hole of 
perhaps three feet in diameter and a foot or so in 
depth is dug in the ground and lined, bottom and 
sides, with flat stones. A fire of brushwood is then 
maintained in the hole until the stones are 
thoroughly heated through, when the embers are re- 
moved and fresh grass or green leaves (or, failing 
these, dampened dried grass) are spread upon the 
hot rocks and ashes. Upon this the bulbs are laid, 
covered with another layer of verdure or wet hay; 
and the whole is then topped with a mound of earth. 
In this air-tight oven the bulbs are left to steam 
for a day and a night, or even longer. The pit is 
then opened and the Camas will be found to be soft, 
dark brown in color, and sweet — almost chestnutty — 
in taste. The cooked mass, if pressed into cakes 
and then dried in the sun, may be preserved for 
future use. 

There are several species of Camas, but the one 
best kno^\Ti is the botanist's Camassia esculenta, 

23 




Camas 
(Camassia esculenta) 



24 



EDIBLE TUBERS, BULBS OR ROOTS 

Lindl., the plant of the preceding paragraphs. A 
closely allied species is Camassia Leichtlinii (Baker) 
Gov., common in northern California and Oregon. 
White settlers, in the days before their orchards and 
gardens were established, found in Camas a wel- 
come addition to their meager and monotonous bill 
of fare, and Camas pie was a not uncommon dish in 
many an old time Oregon or California household. 

Related to the Lily tribe is the Sedge family, of 
which two or three species are utilizable for human 
food. One of these is a bulrush of wide occurrence 
in the United States (Scirpus laciistris, L.), the Far 
Western form of which is commonly known as Tule. 
Its tuberous roots are starchy and may be ground, 
after drying, into a white, nutritious flour. They 
may also be chewed to advantage by travelers in 
arid regions as a preventive of thirst. Of more 
worth, however, are tw^o species of Cyperus — C. 
rotundus, L., and C. esciilentiis, L. The former, 
commonly known as Nut-grass, is a denizen of fields 
in the Southern Atlantic States; the latter, popu- 
larly called Chufa, is abundant in moist fields on 
both our seaboards. Both, also, are widely dis- 
tributed in the Old World. Like all of their genus, 
they are distinguished by triangular stems, naked ex- 
cept for a few grass-like leaves at the base, and bear- 

25 




Chufa 

(Cyperus esculentus) 



26 



EDIBLE TUBERS, BULBS OR ROOTS 

ing at the summit of the stem an umbel of incon- 
spicuous, purplish-green florets. The dietetic in- 
terest in them centers in the rootstocks, which bear 
small tubers of a pleasant, nutty flavor, and both 
white men and Indians have approved them, as well 
as the white men's pigs. The Chufa's hard tubers, 
especially, are sweet and tasty, and in some parts 
of the South have been considered worthy of cultiva- 
tion, though by reason of rapid increase and difficulty 
to eradicate, the plant has a tendency to become a 
bad weed. We get the name Chufa from Spain, 
where the tubers are used in emulsion as a refresh- 
ment in the same class with '^ almonds in the milk, 
pasties, strawberries, azaroles, sugar icing and 
sherbets," according to some lines of a Spanish poem 
I ran across the other day.^ 

Of quite restricted occurrence in the United States, 
but worthy of mention because of its importance, is 
a member of a peculiar natural order of plants 
called Cycads. They resemble the palms in some 
respects and in others the ferns, their leaves, for 
instance, having a fashion of unrolling from base to 
apex in the manner of fern croziers. Many species 
inhabit tropical America, and two reach the southern 

1 "Almendrucos y pasteles, 
Chufas, fresas y acerolas, 
Garapiflas y sorbetes." 

27 



USEFUL WILD PLANTS 

'tip of our country, being indigenous to the Florida 
peninsula. One, known to botanists as Zamia 
pumila, L., occurs in dense, damp woods of central 




Florida Arrowroot 
(Zamia sp.J 

Florida: the other, Z. Floridana, DC, is a wilding 
of the open, dry, pine region of the east coast of 
southern Florida. They are popularly called Coon- 
tie or Coontah, the Indian name. The stiff, fern- 

28 



EDIBLE TUBERS, BULBS OR ROOTS 

like foliage arises in a clump from the crown (at 
the ground level) of a thick, subterranean stem which 
is exceedingly rich in starch. A nutritious flour 
made from the stem- and root-content of Zamia has 
had some vogue in the shops under the name of 
Florida Arrowroot. It has long been a staple article 
of diet with the Seminole Indians, and the plant has 
even found its way into the literature of juvenile 
adventure, as readers of boy romances may recall. 

Similar in name to Coontie — indeed, probably the 
same name applied to a different food — is Conte or 
Contee, mentioned by William Bartram ^ as served 
to him by the Seminoles, and prepared from the 
starchy, tuberous roots of the China-brier {Smilax 
Pseudo-China, L.). This dish was made bj^ chopping 
up the root, pounding the pieces thoroughly in a 
mortar, then mixing with water and straining 
through a sort of basket filter. The sediment was 
dried and appeared as a fine, reddish meal. A small 
quantity of this mixed with warm water and honey, 
says Bartram, ''when cool, becomes a beautiful, 
delicious jelly, very nourishing and wholesome. 
They also mix it with fine com flour, which, being 
fried in fresh bear's grease, makes very good hot 

2 "Travels through North and South Carolina, Georgia, East and 
West Florida, etc.," 1773, Chap. VII. 

29 




CONTE 

(Smilaw Pseudo-China) 



30 



EDIBLE TUBERS, BULBS OR ROOTS 

cakes or fritters." So, you see, the wilderness as 
well as the town had its gastronomic delicacies, and 
dallied with dyspepsia. The China-brier, sometimes 
called Bull-brier, is a perennial woody vine of dry 
thickets from Maryland to the Gulf of Mexico, 
adorned in autumn with showy umbels of black ber- 
ries not known to be edible. The whites have used 
the knotty, tuberous roots as the basis of a home- 
made rootbeer in association with molasses and 
parched corn. 

Our waters, too, yield some native roots of 
economic worth. Among these aquatic wildings per- 
haps the commonest is the Arrowhead {Sagittaria 
variabilis, Eng.), so called from the shape of its 
leaves. It is found in swamps, ditches, ponds and 
shallow waters very generally throughout North 
America from the Atlantic to the Pacific and from 
Canada to Mexico, flowering in summer with 3- 
petaled white blossoms arranged in verticels of three. 
All Indians, whether of the Atlantic Slope, the 
Middle West or the Pacific Coast, have set great 
store by the plant because of its starchy, white 
tubers, somewhat resembling small potatoes, de- 
veloped in autumn at the ends of the rootstocks. It 
is nearly related to a cultivated vegetable of the 
Chinese — Sagittaria Sinensis, a native of Asia. 

31 




Arrowhead 
(Sagittaria variabilis) 



32 



EDIBLE TUBERS, BULBS OR ROOTS 

Lewis and Clarke, in their narrative, speak of an 
island in the Columbia River, which they call Wap- 
patoo Island, because of the numerous ponds in its 
interior abounding in the Arrowhead plant, which 
in the Indian language is termed Wappatoo. Those 
doughty explorers have given a picturesque descrip- 
tion of the aboriginal Arrowhead business in the 
Columbia River country of Oregon as it was a 
century ago. * ' The bulb, ' ' to quote from their Nar- 
rative, ''is a great article of food and almost the 
staple of commerce on the Columbia. ... It is col- 
lected by the women, who employ for the purpose 
canoes . . . sufficient to contain a single person and 
several bushels of roots, j^et so very light a woman 
can carry them w^ith ease. She takes one of these 
canoes into a pond wiiere the water is as high as 
the breast, and by means of her toes separates from 
the root the bulb which on being freed from the mud 
rises immediately to the surface of the water and is 
thrown into the canoe." Roasted or boiled, the 
tubers become soft, palatable and digestible, and to 
travelers in the wild make a fairly good substitute 
for bread. 

Also as bread upon the waters is that majestic 
aquatic, native to quiet streams and ponds of the in- 
terior United States from the Great Lakes to the 

33 



USEFUL WILD PLANTS 

Gulf, the American Lotus or Water Chinquapin 
(Nelumbo lutea, Pers.). It is easily recognized by 
its huge, round leaves (sometimes two feet across 
and a favorite sunning place, by the way, for 
water snakes) lifted high above the water on foot- 




Water Chinquapin 

CNelmnho lutea) 

stalks attached to the center of the concave leaf, and 
its showy, pale yellow, papery flowers of numerous 
petals curving upward to be succeeded by curious, 
flat-topped, pitted seed-vessels. It is an American 
cousin of the famous lotus of India and oriental ro- 
mance. To the American Indian, however, it seems 

34 



I 



EDIBLE TUBERS, BULBS OR ROOTS 

never to have appealed as a flower of contemplation, 
but quite prosaically as an addition — and an im- 
portant one — to his dinner table. In this role he 
found it trebly useful: first, because of the young 
leaves and footstalks which may be turned to ac- 
count in the same way a« spinach ; secondly, because 
of the ripened seeds which, roasted or boiled, are 
palatable and nutritious with a taste that has given 
rise to the popular name AVater Chinquapin; and 
thirdly, because of the large tubers, weighing some- 
times half a pound each, which, when baked, are 
sweet and mealy with a flavor somewhat like a sweet 
potato. This is the plant whose flower is rather 
exuberantly referred to by Longfellow in *' Evan- 
geline ' ' : 

"Resplendent in beauty, the lotus 

Lifted her golden crown above the heads of the boatmen." 

Though the customary habitat of this Nelumbo is 
the Mississippi basin, some isolated stations for it 
are kno\Mi near the north Atlantic coast, notably in 
the Connecticut and Delaware Valleys, suggesting 
the view that it may have been introduced into such 
localities and cultivated by the Lidian inhabitants. 
However the fact may be, its value as a food source 
is such as would have warranted such introduction. 

35 



USEFUL WILD PLANTS 

The aroids — a plant family abundant in the tropics 
and of which several species, as the taro of the 
Pacific, possess nutritious, starchy, tuberous roots of 
importance as human foods — are represented in the 
United States by two or three plants of proved value. 
One of these is the Golden Club {Orontmm 
aquaticum, L,), whose flower spikes of a rich, bright 
yellow, lifted above velvety, green, strap-like leaves 
from which water rolls as from a duck's back, are 
a familiar sight in the spring in ponds and marshes 
along the Atlantic coast. The bulbous rootstock, 
when cooked, is possessed of considerable nutriment, 
but owing to its deep seat in the muck is difficult of 
extraction. The ripened seeds, which resemble peas, 
are more easily gathered, and both whites and 
Indians have included them in their diet. Accord- 
ing to Peter Kalm, an obscTvant and inquisitive 
Swede whose book of travels in the North American 
Colonies in 1748 is still an interesting narrative to 
any who enjoy a look into the vanished past, the 
dried seeds, not the fresh, should be used, and they 
must be boiled and re-boiled repeatedly before they 
are fit to eat ; yet his Swedish acquaintances thought 
it worth their while to do so. 

Of even greater interest is another aroid, the 
Arrow Arum or Virginia Tuckaho {Peltandra Vir- 

36 



EDIBLE TUBERS, BULBS OR ROOTS 

ginica, [L] Kunth, and perhaps the nearly related 
species P. alba, Raf., of the Southern States, a plant 
with large, arrow-shaped leaves and inconspicuous 
flowers enveloped in a green spathe. Peltandra Vir- 
ginica is common in shallow waters of the Atlantic 
seaboard from Canada to Florida. I have never 
dug up the rootstock, about which I find the recorded 
descriptions differ. Havard, in his ''Food Plants 
of the North American Indians," describes it, doubt- 
less rightly, as short, deep-seated, sometimes six 
inches in diameter and weighing five or six pounds. 
As in the case of all aroids, the raw flesh of the root- 
stock is exceedingly acrid, indeed poisonous; but 
when dried and thoroughly cooked, it is found to have 
lost this objectionable principle, and in this state is 
a starchy food of proved nutrition. I think it is this 
plant that is meant in Purchas's Pilgrimage, 
where in the delicious English of the day record is 
made of the Virginians' ' ' Tockawhough ... of the 
greatness and taste of a potato, which passeth a fiery 
purgation before they may eate it, being poison 
whiles it is raw. ' ' The approved treatment appears 
to have been to steam it in the aboriginal heated pit, 
covered over Avith earth and left undisturbed for a 
day or two. Similarly the familiar Jack-in-the-Pul- 
pit {Arisaema triphyllwn, Torr.), whose small, 

37 



^! 



USEFUL WILD PLANTS 



turnip-shaped corm, bitten into raw, stings the ' 
tongue like red hot needles, becomes thoroughly 
tamed when dried and cooked, and its starchy con- 




Jack-in-the-pulpit 
(Arisaema triphyllum) 

tent was once a source of bread to the Seneca In- 
dians. 

The name Tuckaho has also been applied to a sub- 

38 



EDIBLE TUBERS, BULBS OR ROOTS 

terranean fungus {Pachyma Cocos, Fries), often 
found attached to old tree roots in the Southern 
States. It resembles roughly a cocoanut, though 
sometimes of more irregular shape. Inside the 
bro\vn rind is a firm, white meat, which would be 
quite insipid, except for a trace of sweetness that 
is present. Its most common name is Indian Bread, 
because of the Indian use of it as a food. It is de- 
void of starch and seems of questionable nutritive 
value. Another subterranean parasite, though not a 
fungus, that is of genuine worth as an edible, is the 
curious Sand Food {Ammohroma Sonorae, Torr.), 
abundant in sandhills of southern Arizona and across 
the Mexican line in the dunes bordering on the Gulf 
of California, where it is called camote de los 
medanos. It consists underground of a slender, 
fleshy, leafless but scaly stem, two to three feet long, 
while above the sand during the flowering season 
in the spring is a small, funnel-like top on which 
the tiny, purple blossoms appear. After flowering, 
the overground part withers and disappears, and the 
plant presents no sign of its existence except to the 
experts who know where to dig. The subterranean 
•stem is tender, juicy and sweet — a refreshing and 
luscious morsel, meat and drink in one. It may be 
eaten either raw or roasted, and is relished by red- 

39 



USEFUL WILD PLANTS 

men and white alike. Mr. Carl Lumlioltz in his in- 
teresting book *'New Trails in Mexico" tells of an 
Indian who lived almost entirely on Ammobroma, 
being able to find it out of season — a remarkable 
testimony to the nutritiousness of the plant and the 
abstemiousness of the Indian ! 

The creeping rootstocks of the common Cat-tail 
{Typha latifolia, L.) which covers great areas of our 
swamp lands throughout the United States, hold a 
nutritious secret, too, for they contain a core of al- 
most solid starch. They were dug and dried in for- 
mer times by Indians, who ground them into a meal. 
A recent analysis of such meal by one of the Gov- 
ernment chemists showed it to contain about the 
same amount of protein as is in rice- and corn- 
flours, but less fat. It may make a useful mixture 
with the ordinary flours, and be substituted for corn- 
starch in puddings, as it seems entirely palatable. 



40 



CHAPTER III 

WILD SEEDS OF FOOD VALUE, AND HOW 
THEY HAVE BEEN UTILIZED 

The bounteous housewife, nature, on eacli bush 
Lays her full mess before you. 

Shakespeare. 

THE Spanish conquest of Mexico and Peru 
brought to the knowledge of the white race a 
number of vegetable foods that are to-day on eveiy 
American table — such as Indian corn, the potato, 
the pepper, and certain varieties of beans. Others 
are still unknown to the world at large. Among 
the latter that Cortes found in every-day use in 
Mexico was a square-stemmed, blue-flowered herb, 
which the chroniclers of that time called Chian or 
Chia. It seems to have ranked in popularity with 
staples like maize, frijoles, magniey, cacao and chili; 
and was grown with these in the fields and floating 
gardens of the Aztecs, for the sake of the small but 
numerous nutritious seeds of a pleasant, nutty 
flavor. Writers on the i3roducts of the New World 

41 



USEFUL WILD PLANTS 

in the first couple of centuries of the Spanish domina- 
tion always speak of Chia with respect. Later, when 
upper California came in for settlement, the diarist 
of Portola's expedition to -the Bay of San Francisco 
specifies it as among the gifts offered by the Indians 
to their white visitors ; and archaeologists, grubbing 
in prehistoric graves in Southern California, have 
turned up deposits of the seed left as viaticum of 
departed souls, which attest the antiquity of its use 
within the limits of the United States. Even to-day, 
shopkeepers in the Spanish quarters of our own 
Southwestern cities as well as street venders in the 
towns of Mexico include Chia as part of their stock 
in trade. 

One wonders what this all but forgotten food can 
be. 

It is the name applied to at least five or six dis- 
tinct species of plants, of somewhat different aspects, 
most of them belonging to the genus Salvia. The 
seeds are flattish and more or less shining, suggest- 
ing small flaxseed, of whose character they some- 
what partake, being oily and mucilaginous. For 
human consumption they should be parched and 
ground, when they may advantageously be added to 
corn-meal, and this mixture made with water into 
a mush was a favorite item in the old Mexican 

42 



WILD SEEDS OF FOOD VALUE 

dietary. Some of the present-day Indians of 
Southern California mix Chia meal with ground 
wheat, imparting to the latter a delicate, nut-like 
flavor, though the mucilaginous character of Chia 
disposes the mixture to gumminess. Pure Chia 
meal, mixed with water, cold or hot, swells to several 
times the original bulk, and is best eaten as a semi- 
fluid gruel. Old time travelers in our desert regions 
used to provide themselves with this meal, which 
constituted an easily portable and highly nutritious 
ration eaten dry with the addition of a little sugar. 
The species indigenous to the United States are 
Salvia Columhariaey Benth., and S. carduacea, Benth. 
Both are winter annuals native to the Pacific side 
of the continent. The former is the more common, 
found in dry ground throughout Southern Cali- 
fornia and adjacent parts of Nevada, Arizona and 
Mexico. The small, blue flowers, crowded in dense, 
prickly, globular heads, interrupted upon the stalk 
(which passes through the midst like a skewer), ap- 
pear from March to June, and the seeds are ripe 
a month or so later. They are easily gathered by 
bending the stalks over a bowl or finely woven 
basket, and beating the heads with a paddle or fan, 
which shatters out the seeds. That is the Indian 
method; but when the plants grow plentifully, as 

43 




CniA 

(Salvia Columhariae) 



44 



WILD SEEDS OF FOOD VALUE 

they sometimes do as thick as grass in a field, or as 
they may be made to do by sowing the seed in cul- 
tivated ground, they can be cut, threshed and win- 
nowed like flax or wheat.^ 

A wild food plant that has had a remarkable in- 
fluence in geographic nomenclature is the Wild Rice 
{Zizania aquatica, L.). It is the foUe avoine of the 
French voyageurs, and the menomin of the North- 
west Indians, to one tribe of whom — the Menominees 
— it gave a name. Mr, Albert E. Jenks, whose 
exhaustive monograph, "The Wild Rice Gatherers 
of the Upper Lakes, "^ is a mine of information 
about the plant, instances over 160 places (counties, 
townships, towns, railway stations, rivers, creeks, 
lakes and ponds) which have borne a name synony- 
mous wit'h this same Wild Rice. It is of the same 
family as the rice of commerce, and is a species of 
annual grass found growing by the acre, even the 
hundreds of acres, in ponds, swamps and still water- 
ways, both fresh and brackish, in virtually every 
State of the Union east of the Rocky Mountains, 
and also in Japan and China. It is exceptionally 
abundant in the regions bordering on the Great 

1 An important use of Chia is as the basis of a soft drink. See 
the chapter on Beverage Plants. 

2 Printed in the 19th Ann. Report, 13ur. Amer. Ethnology. 

45 



USEFUL WILD PLANTS 



Wild Rice 
(Zizcmia aqiiaticaj 




Lakes both in American and Canadian territory — a 
beautiful, stately grass, rising from two to twelve 
feet above the water and bearing in summer ampl6 
panicles of delicate, yellowish-green blossoms of two 

46 




An Indian of the Great Lakes Region threshing wild 
rice by means of a dasher-Hke stick. 

{Courtesy of the Bureau of Atncrican Ethnology.) 



1 



I 



WILD SEEDS OF FOOD VALUE 

sexes. These are succeeded in September by the 
purplish spikes of ripened seeds occupying the tip 
of the panicle. The seeds are slender and cylindri- 
cal, one-half to three-fourths of an inch long, within 
a long-bearded husk and attached so loosely to the 
branchlet that bears them that they drop at a touch. 
They must needs be gathered, therefore, with great 
care or many may be lost. The Indians customarily 
harvest them just before they attain complete ripe- 
ness, visiting the rice swamps w^ith canoes, which 
they push ahead of them, pulling the fruiting stalks 
over the hold of the canoe and beating the seeds 
into it with a stick.^ The grain is then taken ashore 
where it is dried, either in the sun or by artificial 
heat upon racks under which a slow fire is kept burn- 
ing. The husk must then be threshed otf, which 
may be done by pounding with a heavy-ended stick 
in a bucket; and finally the chaff is got rid of by 
winnowing. The seeds are then ready for use or for 
storing away. Readers of old journals of the so- 
journers in the Northwestern wilderness will recall 
the important role played by such stores of Wild 

3 The best results are attained by first tyiiijr the standing stalio 
together at the head into small bunches. This is done a couple 
of weeks before maturity and serves to conserve the grain and 
lessen the depredations of the birds — particularly the bobolinks — 
which are famous rice eaters. 

47 



USEFUL WILD PLANTS 

Rice (or Wild Oats, as the seed was as often but 
improperly called) in fighting hunger through the 
long, remorseless, northern winters. 

The food value of Wild Rice is high. It is rich in 
carbohydrates (starch and sugar) and is also well 
stocked with flesh-producing proteids. Indeed, as a 
nutrient, it seems quite in the class of its cousin, the 
cultivated rice; and, like the latter, it swells with 
boiling, so that a little goes a long way. The Indians 
use it generally in mixture with stews. If cooked 
alone, two parts of water to one of rice is the usual 
proportion, and from a half to an entire hour is re- 
quired for boiling it. White people who test Wild 
Rice usually pronounce it palatable, particularly in 
the form of a mush served with cream and sugar, 
and Mr. Jenks reports a wilderness soup made of 
Wild Rice and blueberries that sounds as if it ought 
to be good even in New York. 

Two other water plants should be noted for their 
valuable edible seeds. One is the Water Chinqua- 
pin, mentioned in the previous chapter because of 
its useful roots, but which owes its popular name 
to the more obvious virtue of its palatable, nutlike 
seeds. These, boiled or baked, are considered by 
many the equal of chestnuts. The other is the Great 
Yellow Pond Lily of the northwestern Pacific Coast 

48 



WILD SEEDS OF FOOD VALUE 

{Nuphar polysepalum, Engelm.), whose globose, 
yellow flowers, sometimes as much as five inches in 
diameter, are a frequent and charming sight afloat 
on the bosom of shallow lakes and marshy ponds 
of the coast region from northern California to 
British Columbia. The globular seed vessels are 
full grown in summer, and it is the practice of the 
Indians to gather them in July and August, and, after 
drying the pods, to extract the seeds, which may then 
be kept indefinitely. These are commonly prepared 
for consumption by tossing them about in a frying 
pan over a fire until they swell and crack open some- 
what as popcorn does, which they resemble in taste. 
They may be eaten thus out of hand, or ground into 
meal for making bread or mush.'* 

The common Sunflower of our gardens, whose 
monster heads appeal to esthetes because of a par- 
ticular style of languid beauty they possess, and to 
birds and chickens because of their luscious, oleagin- 
ous seeds, is but a coddled form of one of our com- 
monest wild plants — the Annual Smiflower {Heli- 
antlius annuus, L.). This species is indigenous 
throughout western North America, and sheets 
summer and autumnal plains for miles with the gen- 

4 Coville, "Notes on Plants Used by the Klamath Indians of 
Oregon." 

49 



USEFUL WILD PLANTS 

erous gold of its cheery blossoms. The dark gray 
or blackish seeds of the wild plant are much smaller 
than those of the cultivated form, but are exceed- 
ingly numerous, with a white, oily, floury content 
that is rich in nutriment. They used to form an im- 
portant part of the dietary of the Plains Indians, who 
sometimes cultivated the plants amid their corn. 
The ripe seeds were parched and ground into meal, 
and bread made of this meal has been spoken of 
with approbation by white travelers — even as the 
equal of corn bread. There can be no doubt of its 
value in situations where the flours of civilization 
are difficult to procure. As a source of oil sunflower 
seed is by no means insignificant, yielding, according 
to Havard, about twenty per cent, of an excellent 
table article. To most of us, indeed, the Wild Sun- 
flower is a plant of unsuspected uses: its stalks 
possess a fibre of some worth and its flowers are 
good honey producers as well as a basis of a yellow 
dye said to be fast.^ 
In our Spanish Southwest the term pinole is in use 

5 Helianthus annuus is a coarse, much branched plant, three to 
six feet tall, the rough stem frequently mottled, the root (being 
annual) easily pulled up. The large flower heads are yellow-rayed 
with a dark center that is an inch or so across. Leaves petioled, 
ovate, six inches or more long, with toothed edges, rough to the 
touch. The seeds of the closely related species, H. petiolaris, Nutt., 
are similarly useful. 

50 



WILD SEEDS OF FOOD VALUE 

to mean m'eal made from the seeds of wild plants. 
Of these a great number have been utilized in past 
times for this purpose by the aborigines, and still 
are to some extent by old Indians whose taste for the 
pabulum of the long ago has not been lost. There 
is, it seems, a certain tang to the native vegetable 
foods of the wild comparable to the gaminess of wild 
flesh, that meets a need in untamed man not satis- 
fied by the suaver products of civilization. The 
preparation of pinole is in a general way as follows : 
Provided with a large gathering basket of close 
weave and a paddle, usually of rough basket-work, 
the harvester beats the seeds — one sort at a time 
— into the basket, until a sufficient quantity is ob- 
tained. The chaff is then separated by sifting or by 
winnowing in a light breeze, and any prickles or 
hairiness natural to the seeds are singed off by drop- 
ping hot pebbles or live coals among them in a shal- 
low basket and tossing all about at a lively rate. 
More prosaically, the same end may be attained with 
a frying pan kept agitated over a flame. This 
singeing process, moreover, serves to parch or 
partially cook the seeds, which are then ground in 
a mortar and the husks winnowed out. The resid- 
uum of meal, mixed with a little salt, may be eaten 
dry without further preparation. Indians in old 

51 



USEFUL WILD PLANTS 

times frequently made foxced marches of a day on 
no other ration than a small sack of pinole, con- 
sumed in instalments as they traveled. ^ More often, 
however, it is moistened with water and eaten as 
mush or thinner as a gruel, or baked in the form of 
cakes. While the different sorts of seeds are col- 
lected and ground separately, it is not unusual to 
combine them for consumption, as taste may dictate."^ 

It would be tedious to enumerate all the plants 
which have been found of sufficient food value to 
grind into pinole, but the following may be men- 
tioned as of especial interest and worth : 

Of wide distribution in our Far West are two 
annual species of the homely Goosef oot or Pigweed. 
One is Chenopodium Fremontii, Wats., with more or 
less mealy leaves of triangular shape, a plant usually 
a foot or two high but sometimes attaining in over- 
flowed lands a height of six feet or over ; the other is 
C. leptopJiyllum, Nutt., w^ith very narrow leaves that 
are scarcely mealy. The latter species occurs also 
in seashore sands of the Atlantic coast from Con- 
necticut to New Jersey. The inconspicuous green 

6 For white consumption, the digestibility of this ration is im- 
proved by thorough and repeated grinding and parching after each 
operation. 

7 v. K. Chesnut: "Plants Used by the Indians of Mendocino Co., 
California." Printed as Contributions from the U. S. National 
Herbarium, Vol. VII, No. 3. 

52 



WILD SEEDS OF FOOD VALUE 

flowers of both species, clustered in panicled spikes, 
are succeeded in late summer and autumn by an 
abundance of small black seeds of farinaceous con- 
tent. It stimulates our respect for these humble, 
weedy plants to know that the seeds of an allied 
species, Chenopodium Quinoa, have from the dawn 
of history been a valued food of the native Peruvians 
and Bolivians, and have been cultivated by those 
races. The Zufii Indians of New Mexico, according 
to Stevenson, have a tradition that the seeds of C. 
leptophyllum were one of their principal foodstuffs 
in the infancy of the race before the gods sent them 
the com plant. Afterwards, Chenopodium meal 
mixed with corn meal and salt, made into a stiff 
batter and moulded into balls or pats and steamed, 
became a favorite dish with epicurean Zuiiis.^ The 
seeds of a prostrate, mat-like Amaranth {Amaran- 
thiis blitoides, Wats.), a weedy plant with spikelets 
of greenish, chaffy flowers, native to the Rocky 
Mountain region and westward, also formed an im- 
portant item in the ancient diet of the Zuiiis, who 
believed that the original seeds of it had been brought 
up from the underworld at the time of the race's 
emergence into the light of day. In later years, the 

8 "Ethnobotany of the Zuiii Indians." 30th Ann. Report Bur. 
Amer. Ethnology. 

53 



USEFUL WILD PLANTS 

meal made from these seeds has been used, like that 
from Chenopodium, in admixture with corn meal. 
Similarly useful to desert Indians are the seeds of 
species of Saltbush {Atriplex canescens, James, A. 
lentiformis, Wats., A. Poivellii, "Wats., A. conferti- 
folia, Wats., etc.). 

White Sage {Audibertia polystachya, Benth.), one 
of the most famous of Pacific Coast honey plants, 
produces slender, wandlike thyrses of pale blossoms 
whose seeds, though small and husky, are ex<jeed- 
ingly numerous and rich in oil. They are still 
gathered by Southern California Indians, who bend 
the plants over a large basket and beat the seeds into i 
it by striking with a seed-beater, as described before ' 
when treating of Chia. The seeds, mixed with wheat, 
are parched in a frying pan, and all is reduced to a 
fine meal by pounding in a mortar. This stirred in 
water with a sprinkling of salt is then ready to be 
eaten, or drunk, according as the mixture is thick or 
thin. It, too, is called pinole. The sage seeds have 
much the taste of Chia, the botanical relationship be- 
ing close, but they are not mucilaginous. fljl 

Several species of wild grasses are utilizable for 
pinole. One of these is the Wild Oat {Avena fatua, 
L.), suspected of being the progenitor of the culti- 
vated oat, and abundant in certain parts of the West, 

54 




Red Maple (Acer rubrum), the source of a dark blue dye 
in vogue among the Pennsylvania colonists. (See page 226.) 

(Courtesy of the Nczv York Botatiical Gardens.) 



WILD SEEDS OF FOOD VALUE 

particularly on the Pacific Coast where extensive 
areas are covered with it as with a crop. The seed 
resembles the cultivated grain, but is so hairy as 
to stick in one's throat and choke one. After 
thoroughly singeing off the hairs in a pan or basket 
tray, the grain may be reduced to flour, and used 
like ordinary oat-flour. Another pinole grass is 
Elymus triticoides, Buckl., locally known as ''wild 
wheat" and ''squaw grass." It is a tall, slim grass 
with usually glaucous stems, and grows densely in 
moist meadows and alkaline soil throughout the 
Pacific Coast and eastward to Colorado and Arizona. 
An allied species, more robust, with very dense 
flower-spikes of a foot long and larger seeds, serves 
a similar purpose. It is commonly called "rye 
grass" and is the Elymus condensatus, Presl., of the 
botanists. It, too, is abundant in damp, alkaline 
ground and along streams throughout the Far West, 
and Mr. Coville ^ has suggested that it may be worthy 
of experimentation as a cultivated grain for that 
region. 

A Southwestern grass of wide distribution, par- 
ticularly in the deserts, in sandy places (both moist 
and dry) and on arid hillsides, is the so-called Indian 

9 "Plants I'sed by the Klamath Indians," Washington, Gov't Print- 
ing Office, 1897. 

55 



USEFUL WILD PLANTS 

Millet or Sand-grass {Eriocoma cuspidata, Nutt.). 
It is a pereunial, growing in bunches a foot or two 
high, with peculiar panicles whose thread-like, twist- 
ing branchlets are tipped with husks containing 
small, blackish seeds, which have long been valued 
by desert Indians for flour making. This is one of 
the wild grains upon which the Zuni Indians of New 
Mexico have been in the habit of relying in times of 
failure of their cultivated crops; and Dr. Edward 
Palmer tells of parties of Zunis being seen as far as 
ten miles from their villages carrying enormous 
loads of these seeds for winter provision. Still an- 
other desert grass with edible seeds, but restricted 
in its distribution in our country to Southern Cali- 
fornia, is Panicum Urvilleanumj Kunth, which the 
desert Coahuillas call song-wal. It is a stout per- 
ennial, one to two feet high, the whole plant, includ- 
ing the seeds, more or less hairy, and is quite near 
of kin to the millet of the Old World, whose nutri- 
tious properties it shares. 

Among the various gummy plants of the Pacific 
Coast known there as Tarweeds is one called Chile 
Tarweed {Madia sativa, Molina). It is a heavy- 
scented annual, one to three feet high, sticky and 
hairy, with rather narrow, entire leaves, and incon- 
spicuous, pale yellow flowers of the daisy type, the 

56 



WILD SEEDS OF FOOD VALUE 

rays barely a quarter of an inch long, expanding 
only at evening and early moniing. This and some 
kindred species have been utilized by the California 
Indians for pinole. The Chile Tarweed has a spe- 
cial interest in the fact that in Chile, where it is 
also abundant, it has been cultivated from very early 
times. The seeds, when scalded, yield under com- 
pression a considerable percentage of a mild, agree- 
able oil, suitable for table pui^oses, soap-making, 
and notably for lubricating machinery, as it does 
not solidify short of 10 "" Fahr. Some eighty years 
ago, the plant was introduced into cultivation in 
Europe, where, I believe, it is still grown to some 
extent, and an oil-cake is made of the seeds for 
cattle. 

To the traveler in the hill country of central and 
Southern California and western Arizona a familiar 
shrub is a species of wild plum with shining, ever- 
green, holly-like leaves [Prunus ilicifolia, Walp.), 
maturing in autumn an abundance of crimson or 
dark purple fruits in size and appearance like small 
damson plums. They are disappointing, however, 
in that they are almost entirely stone, though such 
thin covering of pulp as there is, is pleasant enough 
to the taste. It is an interesting fact in connection 
with the Indian's inventive genius that this fruit be- 

57 



USEFUL WILD PLANTS 

came long ago one of his important food sources; 
though it was not the pulp but the apparently hope- 
less pit that was turned to principal account. Gath- 
ering the plums in late summer, the Indians would 



ISLAY 

(Prunus ilicifolia) 




spread them in the sun until thoroughly dry, when 
the stones would be cracked and the kernels ex- 
tracted. These- are bitter and astringent like acorns, 
and at first blush as unpromising as the uncracked 
pits themselves. When rid of that deleterious prin- 
ciple, however, the kernels are nutritious and diges- 

58 



WILD SEEDS OF FOOD VALUE 

tible (by Indian organs, at least), and have always 
formed a cherished item in the native dietary, 
wherever the shrub grows. It is quitt generally 
known by its Spanish-Indian name islay. Barrows, 
writing of this food,^*^ states that the kernels are 
crushed in a mortar, leached in the sand basket (pre- 
sumably like acorn-meal) and boiled as mush; but 
an intelligent old Indian of Mission Santa Ines, one 
Fernando Cardenas, who is familiar with the customs 
practised by Southern California Indians, has in- 
formed me that the process as observed by him was 
to put the unground kernels into a bag and dip the 
sack in hot water again and again, until the meats 
became sweet. They were then ground, fashioned 
into balls and eaten so with great gusto. As I have 
personally never seen either process, I record both 
for the curious to test for themselves. 

It would seem reasonable to expect edible seeds 
of many of the wild members of the useful Pea 
family, which is abundantly represented in all parts 
of the country. As a matter of fact, few seem to 
have been found worth w^iile even by Indians of the 
most catholic taste. The Groundnut, Apios tube- 
rosa, has been mentioned in a previous chapter as 

10 "The Ethnobotany of the Coahuilla Indians of Southern Cali- 
fornia." 

59 




Hog Peanut 

( Amphicarpaea monoica) 

60 



I 



WILD SEEDS OF FOOD VALUE 

having been utilized, both seeds and tubers; and 
something should be said of another leguminous 
plant popularly called Hog Peanut {Amphicarpaea 
monoica, Nutt.). It is a slender vine with trifoliate 
leaves, the stem clothed with brownish hairs, and is 
frequently met with in damp woodlands and thickets 
throughout the eastern half of the United States. 
In late summer it is graced with small bunches of 
pale purple or w^hitish pea-like blossoms, pen- 
dulous from the leaf-axils, while from near the root 
solitary, inconspicuous flowers on thread-like stems 
put out and bury themselves loosely in the ground, 
or creep shyly beneath a covering of fallen leaves. 
The showy upper blossoms are mostly abortive, 
though a few manage to develop short pods contain- 
ing three or four small purple seeds apiece, edible 
when cooked. Of much greater Avorth are the sub- 
terranean seed-vessels which bear a single large pea 
in each. These peas are quite nutritious. They are 
mature in September and October, but retain their 
vitality throughout the winter, so that they may be 
dug even in the spring if one knows where to look 
for them. 

The most valuable of all our w^ild legumes is 
doubtless the Mesquit-bean, the algarroha of the 
Mexicans. It is the product of a well-knowm tree 

61 



USEFUL WILD PLANTS 

{Prosopis juliflora, DC, and its varieties) abundant 
throughout the arid region on both sides of the 
Mexican border. It is, indeed, the characteristic 
tree of the Southwestern deserts, giving to those 
gray wastes touches of living 
color very grateful to the eyes 
starving for the sight of a really 
vivid green. The pods, in shape 
and size resembling string 
beans, are produced abundantly 
in drooping clusters, which, 
ripening in late summer, become 
lemon yellow. The juicy pulp, 
in which the hard, bony seeds 
are embedded, is exceedingly 
sweet, containing, according to 
Havard, more than half its 
Mesquit weight of assimilable nutritive 

(Prosopis juliflora) . o ^ • ^ 

properties, of which sugar is 
in the proportion of from twenty-five to thirty per 
cent. All stock thrives on the pods, and it is on 
this account rather than on any appeal to his own 
stomach that the white man's regard for them is 
grounded ; but upon the Indian, who has ever a sweet 
tooth, they have a strong claim as human food. 
There is before me, as I write, a jar of coarse mesquit 

62 








Mesquit 
(Prosopis juliflora) 



63 



USEFUL WILD PLANTS 

meal, and it is as cloyingly fragrant as so much mo- 
lasses. Mr. Edward H. Davis, of Mesa Grande, 
California, to whom I am indebted for the specimen, 
writes concerning it : 

"The mesquit meal is used to-day by the desert 
Indians the same as centuries ago. The pod i* 
pounded up in wooden mortars made from the 
mesquit-tree trunk hollowed out by fire and set 
firmly in the ground. A long, slender, stone pestle 
is used to pound with. The beans are so brittle that 
enough for dinner can be prepared in eight to ten 
minutes. The meal is mixed with water and eaten 
so, being sweet and nourishing. The edible part is 
the pulp of the pods only; the seeds are not diges- 
tible by either man or beast, but will pass through 
the digestive tract unchanged. However, by pour- 
ing warm water over the seeds a sweetish, rather 
lemon-tasting drink is made and much relished by 
the desert Coahuillas." 

The Pima Indians of Southern Arizona formerly 
used mesquit meal as a makeshift for sugar, mingling 
it with their wheat or corn pinole to sweeten the 
latter.^ ^ The raw beans picked from the tree may 
be chewed with enjoyment and some nutritive profit, 

11 John Russell Bartlett, "Personal Narrative of Explorations in 
Texas, New Mexico, California, etc." Vol. II: 217. 

64 



WILD SEEDS OF FOOD VALUE 

as one travels. The quality of mingled acidity and 
sweetness which they possess before perfect ma- 
turity acts also as a thirst preventive, much as do 
the pods of the carob-tree of the Mediterranean 
basin. Indeed, the Spanish term algarroha applied 
in Mexico and our Southwest to the Mesquit bean, 
is a case of transference, algarroho being the word 
used in Spain for the carob-tree. A feature of the 
Mesquit-bean, by the way, to be reckoned with, is 
the fact that the pods are a favorite resort of -a 
species of pea- weevil {Bruclius) for the deposit of 
their eggs. As a consequence Mesquit meal is par- 
ticularly liable to infestation by these small beings 
to a degree that is somewhat of a shock to white 
sensibilities, though the Indians are indifferent to 
their presence; yet, I suppose, after all, it is no 
worse than skippers in over-ripe cheese, which some 
wiiite epicures delight in.^^ 

The Mexicans make a sort of gruel, called atole 
de mezquite, by boiling the mesquit pods, mashing 
them to a pulp in fresh water, and straining. A 
nutritious beverage is thus obtained, agreeable to 
some tastes. So altogether useful is the mesquit 
tree that it is not surprising to learn that it figures 

12 A useful by-product of the Mesquit-tree is a gum that exudes 
from the bruised l)ark and may be used for the purpose of gum 
arabic, which it much resembles. 

65 



USEFUL WILD PLANTS 

in the folklore of some regions where it grows. 
In Mexico a curious tradition is current to this 
effect: Long before the Spanish Conquest, the 
Apostle Thomas, in his heavenly home, became in- 
terested in the Aztecs, and descending to earth 
appeared to them in the guise of the Mexican hero- 
god Quetzacoatl and preached the gospel. The 
Aztecs heard the doctrine but coldly, and so San 
Tomas in most unchristian dudgeon departed, leav- 
ing the curse of sterility upon the plain of Anahuac 
and turning all its cacao trees into mesquites, which 
remain mesquites to this day ! 

Closely related to the Mesquit-bean and of similar 
utility is the Screw-bean, called by the Mexicans 
tornilla. It is a curious, slender, spirally-twisted 
pod, borne in clusters, upon a small tree {Prosopis 
puhescens, Benth.) having much the same geographi- 
cal range as the mesquit. The Screw-bean is even 
more sugary than the Mesquit-bean, and it may be 
made by boiling to yield a very fair sort of molasses. 
Water in which a small quantity of the meal is soaked 
makes a palatable and nutritious beverage. In mak- 
ing Screw-bean meal, the Indians grind the whole 
pods, seeds and all. 



66 



CHAPTER IV 

THE ACORN AS HUMAN FOOD AND 
SOME OTHER WILD NUTS 

Happy age to which the ancients gave the name of golden. . . . 
None found it needful, in order to obtain sustenance, to re- 
sort to other labor than to stretch out his hand and take it from 
the sturdy live-oak, which liberally invited him. 

Doyi Quixote. 

CERTAIN nuts growing wild in the United 
States, such as the chestnut, the hickories, the 
pecan, the beech-nut and the walnuts, have secured 
so firm a place in our ci\^lized dietary that every 
one knows them, and they need not be discussed here. 
Perhaps, though, we have not exhausted all their 
culinary possibilities. For instance, William Bar- 
tram tells us that the Creek Indians in his day 
pounded the shellbark nuts, cast them into boiling 
water and then passed the mass through a very fine 
strainer. The thicker, oily part of the liquid thus 
preserved was rich like fresh cream, and was called 
by a name signifying ''hickory milk." It formed 
an ingredient in much of their cookery, especially in 

67 



USEFUL WILD PLANTS 

hominy and corn cakes. Peter Ivalm speaks of a 
similar practice observed by him with hickory nuts 
and black walnuts. A cooking oil is also said to have 
been obtained from acorns by some Eastern tribes, 
the nuts being pounded, boiled in water containing 
maple-w^ood ashes, and the oil skimmed off. 

Of the nuts of our country unregarded by the 
white population from the standpoint of human food 
value, the noble genus of oaks supplies the most im- 
portant. Every farmer realizes the worth of acorns 
for fattening hogs, but in America only the Indians, 
I believe, have taken seriously to utilizing them for 
human consumption ; and it is significant that among 
the fattest of all Indians are those — the Californians 
— whose staple diet from prehistoric times has been 
acorn meal. There is, to be sure, a difference in 
acorns. All are not bitter. Several species of oak 
produce nuts whose sweetness and edibility in the 
raw state make it easy to believe the acorn's cousin- 
ship to the chestnut and beechnut. In this class are 
the different sorts of Chestnut Oaks, easily recog- 
nized by the resemblance of their leaves to the foliage 
of the chestnut tree; and of these perhaps the best, 
in respect of acorns, is Quercus Michauxii, Nutt. 
— commonly known as Basket Oak or Cow Oak. It 
is a large tree, indigenous to the Southern Atlantic 

68 



THE ACORN AS HUMAN FOOD 

States in situations near streams and swamps, and 
ripening in September or October plump, sweet nuts 
an inch and a half long. 

Oddly enough it is not the sweet acorns but the 
bitter that have played the really noteworthy part in 
aboriginal history. The Indians of the Pacific Coast 
did not become maize growers until after the white 
occupation of their country, preferring to accept 
from the hand of indulgent Nature such nutrients as 
came ready made, among which the abounding fruit- 
age of extensive oak forests formed, and still forms, 
a conspicuous part. The . acorns of all species of 
oaks indigenous to that coast are more or less stored 
with tannin, which imparts to the taste an unwhole- 
some bitterness and astringency as disagreeable to 
red men as to white. Some inventive Indian — and 
doubtless it was a woman, the aboriginal harvester 
as well as cook — long ago hit upon a simple but 
effective way of extracting the deleterious principle ; 
that is, washing the finely ground acorns in water. 
The process of preparing the acorn for human use, 
as still practiced in some parts of California, is as 
follows : 

In autumn v/hen the nuts are ripe but not yet 
fallen, they are gathered in baskets and barley sacks, 
brought home and laid in the sun to dry. Some are 

69 



USEFUL WILD PLANTS 

then stored away for future use in the house or in 
huge storage baskets set outdoors on platforms that 
are raised on legs above the reach of rodents, and 
form a picturesque feature of primitive rancherias. 
The acorns for immediate consumption are divested 
of the shells by cracking, and the kernels then re- 
duced to the finest possible powder by grinding in 
the stone mortar, it having been found that digesti- 
bility depends upon thorough grinding. 

The next step is to get rid of the bitterness, which 
persists through all the milling. 

Every acorn-eating family maintains beside the 
nearest water a primitive leaching plant, varying 
more or less in the details of its make-up, but con- 
sisting primarily of a loose, concave nest of twigs, 
leaves or pine needles raised a foot or two above 
the ground and ensuring perfect drainage. Over 
this is stretched a piece of porous cloth — a clean 
burlap will do — ^sagging, basin-like, in the middle, 
upon which the meal is spread evenly about half an 
inch thick. Water, warm or cold, is then poured 
carefully over this and allowed to filter through, 
more being added from time to time until the bitter- 
ness is entirely leached away. The length of time 
required for this differs according to the variety of 
acorns used, some being less bitter than others. 

70 



THE ACORN AS HUMAN FOOD 

Two or three hours usually suffice. The result is a 
doughy mass, which is then transferred to a pot with 
water added, and boiled up for mush. It swells in 
cooking to about twice its original bulk, and when 
done is a pale chocolate color. In taste it is rather 
flat but with a suggestion of nuttiness that becomes 
distinctly agreeable even to some white palates. 
Judging from my own experience with it, I should 
pronounce it about as good as an average breakfast- 
food mush. Cream and sugar and a pinch of salt 
are considered needful concomitants by most white 
consumers. Formerly the Indians baked a sort of 
bread from acorn dough in their primitive tireless 
cooker — that is, in shallow pits first lined with thor- 
oughly heated rocks. For this purpose the dough 
was usually, though not always, mixed with red clay 
in proportion of about five per cent., according to 
Mr. Chesnut, from whose valuable monograph, 
''Plants Used by the Indians of Mendocino Co., 
California," I have drawn for this statement, — 
the purpose of the clay being apparently to remove 
the last trace of tannin remaining in the dough. 
Upon a bed of green leaves placed at the bottom of 
the pit the dough was laid, covered with another 
layer of leaves, upon which a super-layer of heated 
stones was put, and all then covered with dirt, to 

71 



USEFUL WILD PLANTS 

remain over night. When removed after about 
twelve hours of slow cooking, the bread was coal 
black if the admixture of clay had been used or red- 
dish brown otherwise, and of the consistency of soft 
cheese, hardening, however, with exposure. Such 
bread is oily and heavy, but noticeably sweet in 
taste. The latter characteristic is doubtless due to 
sugar developed by the prolonged, slow steaming. 

Dr. C. Hart Merriam, in the "National Geographic 
Magazine" for August, 1918, tells of a simpler way 
of making acorn bread as observed by him. The 
hot acorn-mush is dipped, a small quantity at a 
time, from the general stock and plunged into cold 
water, which causes the lumps to contract and 
stiffen. The "loaves" so made are then placed on 
a rock to harden and dry out, after which they may 
be kept for weeks until consumed. The same au- 
thority speaks of the excellence of a bread made 
from a mixture of acorn-flour and corn-meal, in the 
proportion of one of the former to four of the 
latter. 

While the acorns of any species may be utilized 
for human need, there is a distinct choice exercised 
by the Indians, the preference being based appar- 
ently on relative richness in oil and lowness in tannin. 
The best liked, according to my observation, are 

72 



THE ACORN AS HUMAN FOOD 

the Kellogg or California Black oak {Quercus Cali- 
fornica, [Torr.] Cooper), the Coast Live oak {Q. 
agrifolia, Nee), the Valparaiso or Canyon Live oak 
{Q. chrysolepis, Lieb), and the colossal Valley White 
oak {Q. lobata, Nee). An analysis of acorn meal 
made from the last named species is quoted by 
Chesnut as showing in percentage 5.7 protein, 18.6 
fat, 65 carbohydrates (starch, sugar, etc.). Though 
the Californians are regarded as among the lowest 
of our North American aborigines in native culture, 
their self -devised treatment of the acorn to make of 
it a wholesome food staple is entitled to the greatest 
respect. Stephen Powers, in his classic work on the 
Tribes of California, finds in one use of acorn mush 
an aboriginal discovery of the principle of the Prus- 
sian pea-sausage ; and quotes the practice of a central 
California tribe, who, upon starting a journey, would 
pack in their burden baskets a quantity of the 
mush. When stopping for refreshment, it w^as only 
necessary to dilute a portion of this with water and 
dinner was ready. A squaw, the traditional burden- 
bearer, could carry thirty pounds, enough to last 
two persons perhaps a fortnight. Naturally so im- 
portant an element as the acorn iii the tribal life 
became associated with religious ceremonial as well 
as incorporated in native poetry; and the approach 

73 



USEFUL WILD PLANTS 

of the autumnal gathering of the nuts was celebrated 
with dances and songs of thanksgiving and rejoicing. 
One of these songs, quoted by Powers, is Englished 
thus: 

"The acorns come down from heaven ; 
I plant the short acorns in the valley; 
I plant the long acorns in the valley; 
I sprout, I, the black acorn sprout; 
I sprout." 

Such dances (and they still have some vogue in the 
remoter parts of the State) were night affairs in 
the open, stamped out in the glow of blazing log 
fires to the accompaniment of minor melodies of 
fascinating appeal, the words of the songs repeated 
endlessly and emphasized with dramatic gestures, 
until the morning star appeared in the east. To this 
day the oak groves in those parts of California 
where any considerable Indian population still 
lingers are invested with traditional acorn rights, 
and recognized by general consent as the harvest 
grounds of particular communities, none poaching 
upon the preserves of another. 

Traveling in mountainous regions of the West 
where coniferous forests prevail, one sometimes 
comes upon the remains of large camp-fires strewn 
roundabout with charred pine-cones and twig ends. 

74 



I 



THE ACORN AS HUMAN FOOD 

These are associated with another sort of nut^ har- 
vest, that of the Pifion or Pine-nut, the plump, oily 
seed of certain species of the Far Western pines. 
The most esteemed nut-pines are the Two-leaved 
Pine {Pinus edulis, Engelm.), a low, round-topped 
tree, generally knoAvn by its Spanish name pinon and 
common from Southern Colorado to Texas and west- 
ward to Arizona and Utah ; the closely related One- 
leaved Pine (P. monopliijUa, Torr.), the pinon of the 
Great Basin region and desert slopes of the Cali- 
fornia Sierras; the Digger Pine (P. Sabiniana, 
Dough), a widely distributed species of the Cali- 
fornia foothills and lower mountain slopes; and 
the stately Sugar Pine (P. Lamhertiana, Dough), 
whose huge cones are frequently a foot and a 
half long or more. The *'nuts" of these species 
vary from one-half to three-quarters of an inch in 
length, with thin shells easy but rather tedious to 
crack. The meat is delicious in flavor even to white 
people, tender, sweet, and highly nutritious. They 
are, moreover, of easiest digestibility, so that even 
delicate stomachs are undisturbed by them. Under 
the name of pinons they are sold in towns through- 
out the Southwest as well as Mexico, where another 

iThe word "nut" is used in this chapter in its popular sense 
rather than with botanical accuracy. 

7'> 



USEFUL WILD PLANTS 

species of nut-pine {Pinus cenibroides, Zucc.) is in- 
digenous. The Parry Pine (P. qiiadrifolia, Sudw.) 
is another good nut-pine, abundant in some parts 
of lower California, but only sparingly found on the 
United States side of the border. John Muir, in his 
picturesque way, characterizes the nut-pine forests 
as "the bountiful orchards of the red man." 

Pine seeds are ripe in autumn, and the Indian 
method of gathering them is to cut or knock the un- 
opened cones from the trees and then roast them in 
a camp fire. This serves to dry out the pitch and 
open the cones, from which the nuts are then easily 
extracted. The pinon harvest among the South- 
western Indians is a joyous time, and what they do 
not themselves consume is readily turned into money 
at the traders'. Dr. Edward Palmer, a veteran 
botanical collector whose notes are enlivened by 
many a human touch, describes a scene of this kind 
which he witnessed among the Cocopahs of Lower 
California. "It was an interesting sight to see these 
children of nature with their dirty, laughing faces, 
parching and eating the pine nuts ... by the hand- 
ful. ... At last we had the privilege of seeing prim- 
itive Americans gathering their uncultivated crop 
from primeval groves." Though edible raw, the 
nuts are preferably toasted, which may be done very 

76 



THE ACORN AS HUMAN FOOD 

comfortably in a vessel kept in motion over a slow 
fire, as peanuts are heated. Not only is the flavor 
improved thereby, but the sweetness of the kernel 
is ensured for a longer time. 

The value of the pinon was quickly recognized by 
the Spanish conquerors of New Mexico, and Fray 
Alonzo de Benavides in his famous Memorial to the 
King of Spain (1630) makes particular mention of 
the Pinon trees, marvelous to him ''because of their 
nuts so large and tender to crack and the trees and 
cones so small and the quantity so interminable." 
It seems that at that early day there was trade in 
New Mexico piiions with the Mexican capital, a 
thousand miles away, where, Benavides tells us, they 
were worth at wholesale twenty-three to twenty-four 
pesos the fanega. They retail to-day in city shops 
of our Southwest at about twenty cents per pound. 

In taking leave of the pines, a word should be said 
about the fruits of their cousins, the Junipers of 
familiar habit. Although reckoned as a conifer, the 
Juniper bears seed vessels that are not cones in 
the popular acceptance of that word, but berry-like, 
due to the growing together of the fleshy cone- 
scales, with a compact pulp around the seeds. The 
resinous quality of these "berries" in most species, 
renders them repugnant to the human palate, but in 

77 



USEFUL WILD PLANTS 

a few cases this feature is much reduced and the 
"berries" are relished because of the sweet flavor 
of their mealy pulp. In this edible class are the 
fruits of the California Juniper {Juniperus Cali- 
fornica, Carr.), the Utah Juniper {J. Utahensis, 
Lem.), and the Check-barked or Alligator Juniper 
(J. pachyphlaea, Torr.). The first two are stunted 
trees or shrubs of arid regions of pure desert. The 
last is a tree attaining sometimes a height of fifty 
feet or more, abundant at rather high elevations in 
Arizona, New Mexico and Southwestern Texas, and 
remarkable for its thick, hard bark, deeply furrowed 
and checked in squares. The "berries" of all these 
species have been approved by Indian palates, and 
are eaten either raw or dried and ground into a 
meal and prepared as mush or cakes. Under ne- 
cessity they might serve to keep body and soul 
together, those of the Alligator Juniper being con- 
sidered the best. Cakes made from these are said 
on good authority to be palatable even to whites, 
and to have the merit of easy digestibility. 

Little known to Americans but possessing a fas- 
cination all its own is the so-called Wild Hazel, Goat- 
nut or Sheep-nut, the fruit of a non-deciduous, gray- 
ish-green shrub, Simmondsia Califormca, Nutt,, 
locally abundant along the mountain borders of the 

78 




Jojoba 

(Sim m on dsia Calif orn ica) 



79 



USEFUL WILD PLANTS 

desert in Southern California and extending into 
Arizona and northern Mexico. It is a distant cousin 
to the beloved boxwood of old gardens, though none 
but a botanist would suspect the relationship. 
The plant is dioecious, so that not every individual 
is seed-bearing — only those possessing pistillate 
flow^ers. The capsules are mature in early autumn, 
and, gaping open, disgorge upon the ground the oily, 
chocolate-brown seeds, which are of about the size 
and appearance of hazelnut kernels. These, too, 
they somewhat resemble in taste, but are much 
easier of consumption because nature does the 
cracking for you. They are eaten with avidity by 
children, Indians, sheep and goats. Mexicans call 
them jojohas, and in Los Angeles I have seen them 
in the Spanish quarter in the shops of druggists, who 
find a steady sale for them for use in promoting the 
growth of deficient eyebrows! For this purpose, it 
seems, they are boiled, the oil extracted and this 
applied externally. The seed's reputation as a hair 
restorer, indeed, is rather extended in the South- 
west. Mexicans in Lower California put it to still 
another use, which will be mentioned in the chapter 
on Beverage Plants. 

According to M. Leon Dieguet in "Re\aie des 
Sciences Naturelles Appliquees" (October, 1895), 

SO 



THE ACORN AS HUMAN FOOD 

'*an analysis of the fire-dried seeds shows them to 
contain 48.30% of fatty matter. The oil solidifies 
at 5°, is suitable for food and of good quality, and 
possesses the immense advantage of not turning 
rancid." The shrub has been recommended for 
culture in the desert regions of the French Colonies 
of North Africa. 

There is a beautiful little tree called the California 
Buckeye {Aesculus Calif ornica, Nutt.) which whitens 
with its fine thyrses of bloom the hillsides of spring 
near streams in central and northern California. In 
summer and autumn it acquires another sort of con- 
spicuousness due to the early dropping of its foliage, 
baring the limbs even in August. It then becomes 
a very skeleton of a tree upon which the fruits, 
hanging thick, look like so many dry, plump figs. 
The leathery rind of the latter encloses one or two 
thin-shelled nuts, shiny and reddish brown like those 
of the tree's cousins, the Buckeyes of the Middle 
West. To white folk these nuts, attractive as they 
appear, seem nevertheless devoid of food possibili- 
ties; indeed, in their raw state, they are known to 
be poisonous. That the Indian should have discov- 
ered how to turn them into fuel for the human 
machine seems, therefore, even more remarkable 
than the conversion of the acorn into an edible 

81 



USEFUL WILD PLANTS 

ration. Yet that is what the Indian did, by a method 
that consists essentially in roasting the nuts and then 
washing out the poison. One wonders how many 
prehistoric Calif ornians died martyrs in the perfect- 
ing of the process. Mr. Chesnut, in his treatise al- 
ready quoted on California Indian uses of plants, re- 
cords in detail how the transformation into edibility 
is accomplished : The Buckeyes are placed in the con- 
ventional stone-lined baking pit which has been first 
made hot with a fire ; they are then covered over with 
earth and allowed to steam for several hours, until 
the nuts have acquired the consistency of boiled 
potatoes. They may then be either sliced, placed 
in a basket and soaked in running water for from 
two to five days (depending ujDon the thinness of 
the slices), or mashed and rubbed up with water 
into a paste (the thin skin being incidentally sepa- 
rated by this process) and afterwards soaked from 
one to ten hours in a sand filter, the water as it 
drains away conveying with it the noxious principle. 
It was customary to eat the resultant mass cold 
and without salt. I have encountered no record of 
the similar use of the eastern Buckeye. The Cali- 
f ornians' treatment of the Pacific Coast species is 
an interesting instance, I think, of what may be 
done with the most unpromising material. 

82 



m 



CHAPTER V 

SOME LITTLE REGARDED WILD FRUITS 
AND BERRIES 

Greate store of f orrest frute which hee 

Had for his food hite gathered from the tree. 

The Faerie Queene. 

NO one has to be told of the edibility of our wild 
strawberries, huckleberries, currants, cranber- 
ries, mulberries, raspberries, blackberries, elderber- 
ries, grapes and persimmons; nor of the pleasure 
which some palates find in the bitterish tang that 
goes with the familiar wild plums and cherries, al- 
though the only use to which most housewives con- 
sider these last fitted is the manufacture of jams 
and jellies. It is more to the purpose, therefore, in 
this chapter to touch upon some less known fruits 
of the hedge and heath — using the word fruit in its 
limited popular sense as based on succulency, rather 
than with botanical accuracy. 

Throughout the basin of the upper Missouri and 
from Saskatchewan to New Mexico, the Buffalo- 

83 



USEFUL WILD PLANTS 

berry {Shepherdia argentea, Nutt.) is at home. In 
the journals of travelers in the upper plains two or 
three generations ago, no bush is more often men- 




_ 

1 
\ 



Buffalo-berry 
(Shepherdia argentea) 

tioned than this. By the French voyageurs and en- 
gages it was called graisse de boeuf, that is, "beef 
fat," which seems in harmony with the story I have 
read that the name Buffalo-berry is derived from the 

84 



II 



LITTLE REGARDED WILD FRUITS 

fact that it was a customary garnish to the monot- 
onous butfalo steaks and tongue of those early days. 
Tlie plant is a somewhat spiny shrub or small tree 
with silvery, scurfy leaves, and forms at times ex- 
tensive and all but impenetrable thickets. The 
species is dioecious, and only the pistillate plant 
bears fruit; but that does it abundantly — tight 
clusters of small, scarlet berries, so sour as to find 
few takers until the frosts of October temper their 
acerbity. Then they are pleasant enough whether 
raw or cooked, though still with a touch of acid 
astringency that makes for sprightliness. Jell}'- 
made from them ranks especially high, and to this 
end they are gathered by white dwellers in the re- 
gions where they grow. In fact, the plant is not in- 
frequently found transferred to gardens. The ber- 
ries used to be one of the Indians' dietary staples, 
lending a lively, fruity flavor to the unending stews 
and mushes of the red men. There is a related 
plant, the Silverberry {Elaeagnus argentea, Pursh), 
native to much the same region and often cultivated 
in gardens for the sake of the fragrant, silvery, 
funnel-form flowers and attractive foliage. Its 
white, scurfy berries, while in a sense edible, are too 
dry and mealy for most people, and are left to the 
prairie chickens. 

85 



USEFUL WILD PLANTS 

The Nightshade family, to which we owe the 
tomato, the potato and the egg-plant (as well as the 
tobacco and some very poisonous fruits), is rep- 
resented in our wild flora by a number of plants 
bearing edible fruit. Of these the red berries of 
two shrubs of the deserts and semi-deserts of 
Arizona, New Mexico and Utah resemble tiny 
tomatoes and go among the Spanish-speaking popu- 
lation under the name of tomatillo, that is, "little 
tomato. ' ' They may be eaten raw, if perfectly ripe, 
or boiled and consumed either as a separate dish or 
used to enliven stews and soups. Dried, they look 
like currants and may be stored away for winter use. 
Botanically the plants are Lycium pallidum, Miers, 
and L. Andersonii, Gray. They are more or less 
spiny shrubs, with small, pale, narrowish leaves, 
bunched in the axils of the branchlets, and bearing 
funnel-form greenish or whitish flowers — those of 
L. pallidum nearly an inch long; of L. Andersonii 
much smaller. To the Navajo Lidians, the berries of 
the former have a sacred significance and Doctor 
Matthews states that in his day they were used in 
sacrificial offerings to a Navajo demi-god. Similarly 
among the Zunis the plant is sacred to one of their 
priestly fraternities, and treated with reverence as 
an intercessor with the gods of the harvest. When 

86 



LITTLE REGARDED WILD FRUITS 

the berries appear, certain individual plants are 
sprinkled with sacred meal and this business-like 
prayer proffered: "My father, I give you prayer 
meal; I want many peaches." ^ 

To the same family belongs the genus Physalis, 
some, perhaps most, species of which yield fruits 
that may be eaten. They are distinguished by a 
bladdery calyx which loosely envelops the small, 
tomato-like berry. These plants are known to 
Americans as Ground Cherries, and to the Spanish- 
speaking residents of our Southwest as tomates del 
campo, that is, "mid tomatoes." Of the score or so 
of species indigenous to the United States, Physalis 
Viscosa, Pursh, is one of the best known — a hairy, 
sticky perennial, common in fields east of the Mis- 
sissippi from Ontario to the Gulf. The nodding, 
greenish-yellow flowers have a purplish-brown cen- 
ter ; and the yellow fruit is reported on excellent au- 
thority to be the best. A species producing red fruit 
(P. longifolia, Nutt.), found wild from Nebraska to 
Texas and westward to Arizona, has been thought 
worthy of cultivation by the Zufii Indians, who used 
to grow it, and perhaps still do, in the women's 
quaint little gardens on the slope of the river Zuni — 

1 Stevenson. "Ethnobotany of the ZuCi Indians." 30th Ann. Kept. 
Bur. Amer. Ethnology. 

87 




Tomato del Campo 
(Physalis longifolia) 



LITTLE REGARDED WILD FRUITS 

gardens familiar to every observant visitor at this 
famous old pueblo. A favorite method of using the 
berries, according to Stevenson,- was to boil them 
and crush them in a mortar with raw onions, chili 
and coriander seeds. Among the whites, the Ground 
Cherries, w^lien used at all, are made into pre- 
serves. 

In the Rose sisterhood — a family that has given 
us a wealth of garden fruits — are a number of wild- 
ings of more or less food value. Next to the wild 
strawberries, raspberries and blackberries, none per- 
haps stands higher in popular favor than the 
Amelanchier, in popular parlance Service-berry, 
June-berry, Shad-bush or Sugar-pear.^ It is found 
with specific variations in leaf and fruit on both our 
seaboards, as well as in the Middle West, a small 
tree or shrub with rather roundish, serrated leaves, 
and producing in late spring or early summer loose 
clusters of round or sometimes pea-shaped, crimson 
or dark-pui'ple berries. These are juicy, with a 
pleasant taste not unlike huckleberries. To white 
settlers throughout the continent this berry has 

2 "Ethnobotanj' of the Zuni Indians." 

3 Service-berry, a name transferred from an English species of 
Pyrus, whose fruit was known as serh, serve or service; June- 
herry, because the fruit generally ripens in June; Shad-bush, be- 
cause blooming when the shad are running in Eastern rivers. 

89 




90 



1 



LITTLE REGARDED WILD FRUITS 

always been an abundant wild stand-by for fruit 
pies. Old time Indians used it not only fresh but 
dried for winter consumption. Lewis and Clarke's 
journal mentions a berry that is undoubtedly this, 
which the Indians were observed preserving by 
pounding masses together into "loaves" of ten to 
fifteen pounds w^eight. These would keep sweet 
throughout the season and would be used as needed 
by breaking off pieces to be soaked in water and 
dropped into stews. Strong competitors with man 
for the berries are the birds and the bears. 

Another western berry that has appealed strongly 
to Indian tastes but not, so far as I know, to ours, 
is the fruit of a species of Buckthorn {Rhammis 
crocea, Nutt.). Doubtless there is nutrition in the 
berries, but they possess, according to Dr. Edward 
Palmer, the peculiar faculty of temporarily tinge- 
ing red the body of one who consumes them in 
quantity. He tells a gruesome story of accompany- 
ing as surgeon a troop of United States soldiers in 
pursuit of a band of twenty-two Apache Indians in 
Arizona, who were eventually surprised in their 
camp and killed outright. The bodies of all were 
discovered to be beautifully reticulated in red from 
the juice of the Ehamnus berries on which the 
Indians had been gorging, the color having been 

91 



USEFUL WILD PLANTS 

taken up by the blood and diffused through the 
■smallest veins. 

Our American Hawthorns (botanically, Crataegus, 
a genus which some modern botanists have split up 
into a hopeless multitude of confused species) bear 
clusters of tiny, alluring apples in various colors — 
yellow, purple, scarlet, dull red, some almost black. 
Many of these are admirable for jelly making. 
Among the best are the large haws of Crataegus 
mollis (T. & G.) Scheele, about an inch in diameter 
and of a bright scarlet color. The species is fairly 
common throughout the eastern United States and 
Central West. The Summer Haw {Crataegus flava, 
Ait.), a small tree of the Southern States, bears 
somewhat pear-shaped, yellowish fruits, one-half to 
three-fourths of an inch in diameter, which are also 
esteemed for jellies, as are the shining blackish ber- 
ries of the Black Haw (Crataegus Douglasii, Lindl.), 
common in the Pacific Northwest, and sweet and 
juicy enough to be pleasant eating uncooked. In 
fact, when it comes to providing raw material for the 
jelly makers, almost any thicket in late summer will 
yield something, for even the hips of the Wild Rose 
have been turned advantageously to that use. The 
hips of certain species, that is; those being pre- 
ferred whose content is juiciest and fleshiest — as, for 



LITTLE REGARDED WILD FRUITS 

instance, the plump berries of the beautiful Nutka 
Rose of the Far Northwest. Frost is an essential 



rTx: 



^i-(:^^x:tri^^ 







American Hawthorn 
(Crataegus mollis) 

agent in arousing palatability in most sorts of rose 
fruits. 

93 



USEFUL WILD PLANTS 

On the Pacific Slope one of the cherished berries 
for jelly making is the Manzanita {Arctostaphylos 
of several species), a remarkable evergreen shrub, 
or sometimes a small tree, whose shiny, chocolate- 
colored trunk and twisting branches, as hard as bone, 
are familiar to every traveler in the California 
mountains. The popular name is Spanish for 'kittle 
apple," and aptly describes the appearance of the 
fruit. This is borne very abundantly and is ripe in 
mid-summer. The mountain folk, describing the 
plant, will tell you there are two kinds, one with 
smooth berries and the other with sticky ones: but 
botanists are not so easily satisfied, and have 
described at least a dozen species. The one most 
often used for jelly is Arctostaphylos Manzanita, 
Parry, common in mountainous regions throughout 
the length of Cahfornia, and also, I believe, in parts 
of Arizona and Utah. The berries are smooth 
skinned, with an agreeable acid flavor, and 
nutritious, but dry, mealy and seedy. Chewed as 
one travels, they are a capital thirst preventive, but 
the pulp should be very sparingly swallowed, as it 
is quite hard to digest. Indians, in former days, 
however, set great store by them as an article of 
diet, and in specific Manzanita tracts, just as in the 
oak-groves, there were recognized tribal or family 

94 




Manzanita 
(Arctostaphylos Manzanita) 



95 



USEFUL WILD PLANTS 

rights. The berries were consumed either dried and 
ground into pinole, or cooked as a mush, or in the 
fresh state. Death from intestinal stoppage is said 
to have sometimes resulted, however, from too free 
indulgence in the uncooked fruit."* A favorite 
aboriginal use, too, was in the manufacture of cider, 
which will be described in the chapter on Beverage 
Plants. 

To white cooks the Manzanita is of negligible in- 
terest except, as already hinted, as a basis for a jelly, 
which is famously good. The following recipe I 
have from Mr. Edmund C. Jaeger of Riviera, 
California: Select berries, by preference of the 
smooth-skinned variety, which are more juicy than 
the others, picking them when full grown but still 
green, say about the first of June. Put them in a 
boiler with cold water to cover; and after bringing 
them to a boil, let them simmer until thoroughly 
cooked through: then pour into a cheese-cloth sack 
and press out the juice. This will have a cloudy 
look. Add sugar in the proportion of pound for 
pound, and boil till the liquid jells. The sugar clari- 
fies the juice, and the jelly is a beautiful, clear, amber 
red. Should the berries be too ripe, there will be 

4 Chesnut. "Plants Used by the Indians of Mendocino Co., Cali- 
fornia." 

96 



LITTLE REGARDED WILD FRUITS 

failure to jell, but an excellent table syrup is the re- 
sult, instead. 

Wild currants, gooseberries, plums and cherries all 
play into the jelly maker's hands; and so do the 
acid, scarlet berries of the eastern Barberry {Ber- 
heris Canadensis, Pursh), found in mountain woods 




Oregon Grape 
(Berberis aquifoUum) 

from Virginia to Georgia, as well as of the European 
Barberry {B. vulgaris, L.) which has become a wild 
plant in some sections. On the Pacific slope another 
Barberry is the familiar Oregon Grape {Berberis 
aquifoliiim, Pursh), a shrub two to six feet high, 
with evergreen pinnate leaves of seven to nine 

97 



USEFUL WILD PLANTS 

leathery, holly-like leaflets, abundant in rich woods 
among rocks, especially in northern California and 
Oregon, of which latter State it is the floral emblem. 
Erect clusters of small but conspicuous yellow 




Oregon Grape 
(Berber-is aquifoliumj 

flowers adorn the bushes in the spring, succeeded in 
autumn by blue berries of a pleasant flavor which 
are useful for jelly making and also as the basis of a 
refreshing drink. Cousin to the Barberry is the 

98 



LITTLE REGARDED WILD FRUITS 

familiar May Apple, Wild Leinoii or American Man- 
drake {PodophyUiim peliatum, L.), a common herb, 
with umbrella-like leaves sheeting the ground in rich 




May Apple 
(Podophyllum peltatum) 

woodlands and shady meadows throughout the region 
east of the Mississippi from Canada to the Gulf. 
The pear-shaped fruit, about the size of a butternut, 
has claims to edibility. When green it exhales a 

99 



USEFUL WILD PLANTS 

rank, rather repulsive odor, but when fully matured, 
all that is changed into an agreeable fragrance, hard 
to define — a sort of composite of cantaloupe, summer 
apples and fox grapes. Brought indoors, two or 
three will soon perfume a whole room. As to 
palatability, tastes differ: some people loathe the 
flavor ; others are fond of it. It ought not to be con- 
demned on the evidence of unripe specimens, but 
should be tested fully mature, at which stage the 
little "apples" are yellowish in color and drop into 
the hand at a touch. They may be eaten raw in 
moderation, the outer rind being first removed, or 
they may be converted into jelly. Care should be 
exercised with respect to the leaves and the root, 
which are drastic and poisonous. 

Occurring throughout the same range with the 
May Apple, but much less common east of the 
Alleghenies, is a small tree affecting stream borders 
and producing in early spring odd, solitary, purplish 
flowers pendulous from the leaf axils at the same 
time with the opening leaves. It is the North 
American Papaw {Asimina triloba, Dunal). In Sep- 
tember or October it bears sparse bunches of oblong, 
greenish, pulpy fruits each four or five inches in 
length and an inch or two in diameter, known as 
papaws, wild bananas, or, by old time French set- 

100 



LITTLE REGARDED WILD FRUITS 

tiers, asimin(\^--a Gallicized form of the Assiniboiiie 
Indian name of the fruits. They are unquestionably 
of some food value, though again tastes differ on the 
point of their palatability. ' ' Edible for boys ' ' is the 
classing they get from one good authority; but, on 
the other hand, the sweet, aromatic flavor is distinctly 
pleasant to some maturer palates. Perhaps, as I 
have heard it suggested, the divergence in views may 
be due in some degree to the fact of different natural 
varieties within the species. Our Papaw is a far- 
strayed member of the tropical family that includes 
the Anonas— the cherimoya, the sour-sop and the 
custard apples. Another plant tribe of the tropics 
that finds a small representation in the United 
States is the Passion Flower family, noted for its 
remarkable blossoms in which the devout have 
thought to see a perfect symbol of the Divine Pas- 
sion. There is one species, commonly called Maypop 
{Passiflora incarnata, L.), so frequent along fence 
rows and in cultivated fields of the Southern States 
as to be in the class of a weed. The fruit is a yel- 
low, egg-shaped berry, a couple of inches long, ac- 
counted edible, but more esteemed when made into 
jelly than when eaten raw. Nevertheless to some 
tastes the flavor is agreeable. I fancy it is to this 
plant that John Muir refers in his ''Thousand Mile 

101 



USEFUL WILD PLANTS 

Walk to the Gulf," quoting for it a local Georgia 
name, "Apricot vine," having a superb flower **and 
the most delicious fruit I have ever eaten. ' ' 

The Heath family, which gives us the huckleberry, 
blueberry and cranberry (too well known to be 
treated here), as well as the manzanita already de- 
scribed, has two or three other members growing 
wild and bearing berries whose edibility is touched 
with a special grace of spiciness. One of these is 
the familiar Teaberry, Checkerberry or Wintergreen 
{Gaultkeria procimihetis, L.), an aromatic, creeping, 
evergreen vine usually of coniferous woods, from 
subarctic America southward through the eastern 
United States to Georgia. The crimson-coated ber- 
ries, about the size of peas, are pleasant morsels and 
make a welcome feature in a small way in the 
autumnal displays of fruit venders in Eastern cities. 
A Pacific Coast species of Gaultheria with black- 
purple berries {G. Shallon, Pursh) has become com- 
monly known by the name of Salal, a corrupted form 
of its Indian designation. It is a small shrub, one to 
three feet high, with sticky, hairy stems, frequent 
in the redwood forests of Northern California, and 
thence northward in shady woods as far as British 
Columbia. Lewis and Clarke's journal contains 
several references to the Oregon Indians' fondness 

102 




Salal 
(Oaultheria ShallonJ 



103 



USEFUL WILD PLANTS 

for the berries, which, under the names of Shallon 
and Shewel, seem to have been a staple of diet with 
them. Though thick of skin they are well flavored. 
Paradoxical enough, it is the desert that grows 
some of our most important and most juicy wild 
fruits. Among these the plump pods of species of 
Yucca or Spanish Dagger, abundant throughout the 
arid regions of the Southwest, are of recognized 
worth. One of the most widely distributed is Yucca 
haccaia, Torr., called by the Mexican population 
Palmilla ancha or Ddtil — the former name mean- 
ing "broad-leaved little date-palm," and the latter, 
''the date fruit." The fruit is succulent, plump, 
and in shape like a short banana, and is borne in 
large, upright clusters, seedy but nutritious. The 
taste is agreeably sweet when fully developed, which 
is in the autumn if birds and bugs spare the pods 
so long. Indians have always regarded the Bdtil 
as a luxury. As I write there comes visibly to mind 
a chilly, mid- August morning in the Arizona plateau 
country, when two Navajo shepherdesses left their 
straggling flock to share in the warmth of our camp 
fire and pass the time of day. As they squatted by the 
flame, I noticed that one slipped some objects from 
her blanket into the hot ashes, but with such deft 

104 



LITTLE REGARDED WILD FRUITS 

secretiveness that my eyes failed to detect what they 
were. Later as the woman rose to go, she raked 
away the ashes with a stick and drew out several 
blackened Yucca pods, which had been roasting while 
we talked. I can testify to the entire palatability of 
this cooked fruit (the rind being first removed), 
finding it pleasantly suggestive of sweet potato. 
Those fruits that morning were still green when 
plucked. Dr. H. H. Rusby informs me that the sliced 
pulp of the nearly ripe pods makes a pie almost in- 
distinguishable from apple pie. The ripe fruit may 
be eaten raw, but the more usual custom among the 
Pueblo Lidians, who w^ould travel long miles in the 
pre-education days to gather the succulent, yellow 
pods and bring them home by the burro-load, was to 
cook them. Sometimes they were simply boiled, and 
on cooking the skin was removed, since it then sep- 
arates easily from the pulp; but there was a more 
complicated process, resulting in a sort of conserve, 
that was considered better. This w^as to bake the 
fruit, peel it and remove the fibre, and then boil down 
the pulp to a firm paste. This was rolled out in 
sheets of about an inch in thickness, and carefully 
dried. Afterwards these were cut up into con- 
venient sizes and laid away to be consumed either 

105 



USEFUL WILD PLANTS 

as a sweetmeat, or dissolved in water as a beverage, 
or employed like molasses on tortillas and bread.^ 
The young flower buds of this and sq>me- other 
species of Yucca possess a considerable content of 
sugar and other nutritive principles, and by the 
aborigines are considered delicacies when cooked. 
Coville records a custom of the Panamint Indians 
who collected the swelling buds of the grotesque 
arborescent Yucca of the Mojave Desert known as the 
Joshua tree {Yucca hrevifolia, Engelm.) and roasted 
them over hot coals, eating them afterwards either 
hot or cold. 

The Yuccas have been useful to the desert people 
in other ways than as food, and we shall hear of 
them again in subsequent chapters. It is not re- 
markable, therefore, that the plant is imbued with 
sacred siigndficance and enters in many ways into na- 
tive religious ceremonies. Among the Navajos, 
Yucca baccata is called Jioskawn and allusions to it 
are of frequent occurrence in the folk lore of that 
interesting race. Its leaves are the material out of 
which the ceremonial masks employed in the relig- 
ious rites of these people are made. The Govern- 
ment has given particular distinction to this plant 

-> Bandelier, quoted by Harrington in "Ethnobotany of the Tewa 
Indians," Bull. 55, Bur, Amer. Ethnology. 

106 



LITTLE REGARDED WILD FRUITS 

by bestowing its Spanish name on the ''Datil Na- 
tional Forest" of New Mexico. 

The Cactus family, those especial plant children 
of the desert, yield some quite choice fruits, though 
they make us work to get them, hedged about as they 
are w^ith vicious spines and bristles. Of several 
genera indigenous to the United States producing 
edible berries, the most widely distributed is 
Oprmfia, embracing two quite different looking divi- 
sions, one with broad, flattened joints (the Platopun- 
tias) and one with cylindric, cane-like joints (the 
Cylindropimtias) . Tlie former division includes the 
well-knowm Prickly Pears or Indian Figs, of w^hich 
two species {Opiinfia vulgaris, Mill., and 0. Rafi- 
nesquii, Engelm.) occur in sandy or sterile soil of 
the Atlantic seaboard. Their seedy, lean, insipid 
berries, each an inch or so long, are edible in a way, 
but they are not at all in tlie same class with the 
fat, juicy ''pears" of many of the species growing 
wild in the Southwestern desert country, w^iere the 
genus is best represented. Even there, there is 
great choice in the fruits of different species, those 
of the broad-jointed sort being much the best. Such 
plants are called nopal by the Spanish-speaking 
Southwesterners and the fruit tuna. Among these 
Opuntia laevis, Coult., and the varieties of 0. Engel- 

107 



USEFUL WILD PLANTS 

manni and 0. Lindheimeri (the last abundant in 
Southern California) are especially valued. Better 
than these, however, are certain species introduced 
a century or more ago by the Franciscan Mis- 
sionaries from Mexico, the motherland of the cacti. 
These are Opuntia Tuna, Mill., and 0. Ficus-Indica, 
Mill., and they now grow w^ild in many parts of Cal- 
ifornia, especially about the old Mission towns, the 
fruit being annually harvested by the Mexican pop- 
ulation. (See illustration facing page 18.) 

The gatherer of tunas is faced by two difficulties 
— the rigid, needle-like spines that bristle on all sides 
of the plant, and the small tufts of tiny spicules that 
stud the fruit itself. The latter are really the more 
dangerous, because a touch transfers them from the 
tuna to the picker's flesh, there to stick and prick 
wickedly. If they happen to get into the mouth or 
upon the tongue, the pain is persistent and agonizing. 
With care, however, nothing of that sort need 
happen. Armed with a fork and a sharp knife, you 
spear your tuna firmly with the fork, give it a wrench 
and complete the parting from the stem by a slash 
of the knife. The next step is to peel the *'pear," 
which is made up of a pulpy, seedy heart enveloped 
in an inedible rind. This may be readily got rid of 
in the following way: Handling the tuna with a 

108 




Gathering tunas, fruit of the nopal cactus, California. 



m 



1 



LITTLE REGARDED WILD FRUITS 

glove or speared upon a fork, lay it upon a clean 
board, and holding it down slice off each end ; then 
make a longitudinal cut through the rind from end 
to end; lay open both flaps of the rind, which may 
then be pressed back, separating along natural lines 
from the pulp. If the gathered fruit is first placed 
in water and stirred well, the spicules are to a con- 
siderable extent washed off. (See illustration, page 
174.) 

Eaten raw, tunas of the better sort are refresh- 
ing and agreeable to most people, though the bony 
seeds are an annoyance unless one swallows them 
whole, after the Mexican fashion. The taste differs 
somewhat with the species, those that I have eaten 
possessing a flavor suggesting watermelon. The 
sugar content is considerable, and a very good syrup 
may be obtained by boiling the peeled fruits until 
soft enough to strain out the seeds; after which the 
juice may be boiled do'wm further. No sugar need 
be added, unless a very sweet syrup is needed. Care 
should be exercised to select fruit that is really ripe ; 
in some sorts maturitj" is slow to follow coloration. 
After all, though, it is Mexico where tuna raising and 
consumption have become an art, and the tuna 
market is an interesting feature in many Mexican 
towns. During the time of the harvest whole 

109 



USEFUL WILD PLANTS 

families go to the hills and camp out in the Nopaleros 
(the areas where the cactus grows) and live prac- 
tically upon tunas alone. Mr. David Griffiths, in his 
monograph "The Tuna as a Food for Man," " states 
that at such times about two hundred tunas a day 
constitute the ration of one individual. Large 
quantities are dried for future use and several pro- 
ducts are also manufactured from the fresh fruit. 
One of these, called queso de tuna (that is, "tuna 
cheese"), is an article of sale in the Mexican 
quarters of our Southwestern towns. It is made by 
reducing the seeded tuna pulps to an evaporated 
paste, and is sent to market in the shape of small 
cheeses, dark red or almost black. 

Another member of the Cactus family that is an 
important food source in the Southwest is the 
Sahuaro {Cereus giganteus, Engelm.). It is 
Arizona's floral emblem, and abounds throughout 
the southwestern part of that State and across the 
frontier into northern Mexico, forming at times in 
the desert strange, thin forests casting attenuated 
shafts of shade. It is one of the world's botanical 
marvels, a leafless tree with fluted, columnar trunk 
and scanty, vertical branches, rising sometimes to 

eBull. 110 Bur. Plant Industry, U. S. Dept. Agriculture. 

110 



LITTLE REGARDED WILD FRUITS 

the height of sixty feet and tipped in spring with 
numerous creamy, pink flowers. The fruit com- 
monly goes by its Mexican name, pitahaya. It 
ripens in June and July, and somewhat resembles 
the tuna m form, with a juicy, seedy, crimson pulp. 
To civilized tastes, the fresh fruit is rather mawkish, 
less sweet than that of the related pitahaija dulce, 
which is common on the Mexican side of the border 
and is borne by Cereus Thurheri, Engelm. Never- 
theless the Arizona pitahaya is of considerable food 
value and highly relished by the Indians of the 
region, particularly the older generation of Papagos, 
who make a festival of the opening of the pitahaya 
harvest, dating their new year from that event, and 
used to intoxicate themselves as a religious duty 
upon a sort of wine that they made for the occasion 
from the fermented first fruits. 

The pitahayas are gathered with a twenty-foot 
pole, made of the rod-like ribs of some dead sahuaro 
lashed together and having a hook affixed to the tip, 
with which the fruit is dislodged. Such part of the 
crop as is not consumed raw is boiled down, as in the 
case of the tuna, the seeds removed, and then boiled 
again until the mass is reduced to a syrup. This is 
of a clear, light brown color, and pleasantly sweet, 

111 



USEFUL WILD PLANTS 

making a fair substitute for molasses and corre- 
spondingly good on bread or corn cakes. It is set 
away for winter consumption." The inner part of 
the pitahaya may also be sun-dried, and will then 
keep for a long time. Sahuaro seeds are quite oily, 
and I am told by Mr. E. H. Davis that the Papagos 
dry them and grind them into an oleaginous paste, 
which they spread like butter on their tortillas. The 
ribs of this most useful plant are also employed by 
these same Indians as the basis of their stick-and- 
mud houses — a practice doubtless inherited from the 
ancients, as in many old cliff dwellings sahuaro ribs 
are found reinforcing adobe. 

A word about one more desert fruit, and this 
chapter closes. On the Colorado Desert of South- 
eastern California, there is indigenous a stately palm 
known as the California Fan Palm {Washingtonia 
filifera, Wendl., var. rohusta), which has been widely 
introduced into cultivation in the Southwest. In the 
caiions of the San Jacinto Mountains opening to the 
desert and in the desert foothills of the San Bernar- 
dino Mountains, as well as here and there in certain 
alkaline oases of the desert itself, extensive groves 
of this noble palm flourish — the remnant, it is 

7 For an interesting and detailed account of the Arizona Sahuaro 
harvest and uses, see Mr. Carl Lumholtz's "New Trails in Mexico," 

112 





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LITTLE REGARDED WILD FRUITS 

believed, of far greater forests that probably existed 
in that region in primeval times. The mature fruit 
of the Washingtonia is berry-like and black, resem- 
bling a small grape or cherry, and is borne in huge 
compound clusters, which hang below the leafy 
crown of the tree in autumn and early winter. The 
relatively large seed is embedded in a thin pulp of 
sweetish flavor, which is edible, though it requires 
industry and a long pole to reach the fruit. These 
Requisites were possessed by the old-time desert 
Indians, who used to make of the palm-berries an 
important feature in their diet, not only consuming 
the pulp both fresh and dried, but also grinding the 
seeds into a meal, which Dr. Edward Palmer thought 
as good as cocoanut. 



113 



CHAPTER VI 

WILD PLANTS WITH EDIBLE STEMS AND 
LEAVES 

I often gathered wholesome herbs, which I boiled, or eat as 
salads with my bread. 

Gulliver's Travels. 

WHAT would you say to a dish of ferns on 
toast? It is quite feasible in the spring, if 
the Common Bracken {Pteris aquilina, L.) grows 
in your neighborhood — that coarse, weedy-look- 
ing fern with long, cord-like creeping root-stocks 
and great, triangular fronds topping stalks one to 
two feet high or more, frequent in dry, open woods 
and in old fields throughout the United States — the 
most abundant of ferns. The part to be used for 
this purpose is the upper portion of the young shoot, 
cut at the period when the fern shoot has recently 
put up a?id is beginning to uncurl. The lower part 
of the shoot, which is woody, and the leafy tip, which 
is unpleasantly hairy, are rejected. It is the inter- 
mediate portion that is chosen, and though this is 

114 



EDIBLE STEMS AND LEAVES 



loosely invested with hairs, these are easily brushed 
off. Then the cutting, which resembles an at- 
tenuated asparagus stalk, is ready for the pot. 
Divided into short lengths and cooked in salted, boil- 
ing water until quite 
tender — a process that 
usually requires a half 
to three quarters of an 
hour — the fern may be 
served like asparagus, 
as a straight vegeta- 
ble, or on toast with 
drawni butter, or as a 
salad with French 
dressing. The cooked 
fern has a taste quite 
its own, with a sugges- 
tion of almond. Its 
food value, according 
to some experiments 
made a few years ago by the Washington State Uni- 
versity, is reckoned as about that of cabbage, and 
rather more than either asparagus or tomatoes. 
Furthermore, the rootstocks of this fern are edible, 
according to Indian standards, and are doubtless of 
some nutritive worth as they are starchy, but the 

115 




Brackex Shoots 
(Pteris aquilina) 



USEFUL WILD PLANTS 

flavor does not readily commend itself to cultivated 
palates. 

Dietitians who insist on the value of salads as part 
of a rightly balanced ration have a strong backer in 
Mother Nature, if we may take as a hint the large 
number of wild plants which everywhere freely 
offer themselves to us as ''greens" — all wholesomely 
edible and many of decided palatability. Especially 
in the spring, when the human system is starving 
for green things and succulent, the earth teems with 
these tender wilding shoots that our ancestors set 
more or less store by, but which in these days of 
cheap and abundant garden lettuce and spinach we 
leave to the rabbits. To know such plants in the 
first stages of their growth, when neither flower nor 
fruitage is present to assist in identification — the 
stage at which most of them must be picked to serve 
as salads or pot herbs — presupposes an all-round 
acquaintance with them, so that the collector must 
needs be a bit of an expert in his line, or have a 
friend who is. 

There is one, however, that is familiar to every- 
body — the ubiquitous Dandelion, whose young plants 
are utilized as pot-herbs particularly by immigrants 
from over sea as yet too little Americanized to have 
lost their thrifty Old World ways. It is a pleasant 

116 



EDIBLE STEMS AND LEAVES 

sight of spring days to see tliese ncw-fledged Ameri- 
cans dotting tlie fields and waste lots near our big 
cities, armed with knives, snipping and transferring 
to sack or basket the tender new leaves of the well- 
beloved plant, w^hich, like themselves, is a translated 
European. The leaves are best when boiled in two 
waters to remove the bitterness resident in them; 
and then, served like spinach or beet-tops, they are 
good enough for any table. Old Peter Kalm, who 
has ever an eye watchful for the uses to which people 
put the wild plants, tells us the French Canadians 
in his day did not use the leaves of the Dandelion, 
but the roots, digging these in the spring, cutting 
them and preparing them as a bitter salad. 

Then there is Chicory, which has run wild in 
settled parts of the eastern United States and to 
some extent on the Pacific coast, adorning the road- 
sides in summer with its charming blue flowers of 
half a day. Its young leaves, if prepared in the 
same way as those of the Dandelion, are relished 
by some. Preferably, though, the leaves are 
blanched and eaten raw as a salad. The blanching 
may be done in several ways. The outer leaves may 
be drawn up and tied so as to protect the inner foliage 
from the light and thus whiten it, or flower-pots may 
be capped over the plants. Another method is this : 

117 



USEFUL WILD PLANTS 




f 



Chicory 
(Cichorium Intyhus) 



^^J-*^ 



Dig up the roots in tlie autumn, cut back the tops 
to within an inch of the root-crown and bury the 
roots to within an inch of the top in a bed of loose 
mellow earth in a warm cellar. In a month or two, 

118 



EDIBLE STEMS AND LEAVES 

new leaves should appear, crisp and white and ready 
for the salad bowl. 

Another old-fashioned pot-herb that may be 
gathered freely in the spring is the early growth 
of that familiar weed of gardens and waste places 
throughout the land, the homely Pigweed {Cheno- 
2)odium album, L.), or Lamb's quarters. This 
latter queer name, by the way, like the plant itself, 
is a waif from England, and according to Prior ^ is 
a corruption of '^ Lammas quarter," an ancient 
festival in the English calendar with which a kindred 
plant {Atriplex patula), of identical popular name 
and usage, had some association. Of equal or per- 
haps greater vogue are the young spring shoots of 
the Pokeweed {Phytolacca decandra, L.) boiled in 
two waters (and in the second with a bit of fat pork) 
and served with a dash of vinegar. So, too, the 
first, tender sprouts of the common eastern Milk- 
w^eed (Asclepias Syriaca, L.) have garnished country 
tables in the spring as a cooked vegetable, but the 
older stems are too acrid and milky for use. Mr. 
J. M. Bates, writing in ''The American Botanist," 
speaks of this and of the closely related species, A. 
speciosa, Torr., of the region west of the Mississippi, 
as the best of all wild greens, provided they are 

1 "On the Popular Names of British Plants," R. C. A. Prior, M. D. 

119 




Milkweed 
(Asclepias Hyriaca) 



120 



EDIBLE STEMS AND LEAVES 

picked while young enough, that is, like asparagus 
sprouts and while the stems will still snap when 
bent. Young leaves and all are good in that stage 
of growth. 

The Buckwheat family, which has yielded to civili- 
zation not only the grain that bears the family name 
but also the succulent vegetable Rhubarb, has some 
wild members with modest pretensions to useful- 
ness. That common weed, naturalized from Europe, 
the Curled Dock {Riimex crispus, L.), for instance, 
is of this tribe ; and its spring suit of radical leaves 
stands well with bucolic connoisseurs in greens. An- 
other Rumex {R. liymenose'paJus, Torr.), common on 
the dry plains and deserts of the Southwest and be- 
coming very showy when its ample panicles of dull 
crimson flowers and seed-vessels are set, is famous 
there as a satisfactory substitute for rhubarb, which, 
indeed, the plant somewhat resembles. The large 
leaves, nearly a foot long, are narrowed to a thick, 
fleshy footstalk, which is crisp, juicy and tart. 
These stalks, stripped oif before the toughness of 
age has come upon them, and cooked like rhubarb, 
are hardly distinguishable from it. Westerners 
know it as Wild Rhubarb, Wild Pie Plant, and 
Canaigre. Under the last name it has some celebrity 
as tanning material, the tuberous roots being rich 

121 




1 



Wild Rhubabb 
(Rumex hymenosepalusj 



122 



EDIBLE STEMS AND LEAVES 

in tannin and having be^n long used by the Indians 
in treating skins. The tannin is extracted by leach- 
ing the dried and ground roots. 

To the same family belongs the vast western genus 
Eriogomim, which includes that famous honey plant 
of tine Pacific coast known as Wild Buckwheat. 
Some members of this genus are prized by the 
Indians and children for the refreshing acidity of 
the young stems — a quality of distinct value in the 
arid regions where many of them grow and where 
one is ''a long way from a lemon." Among such 
is Eriogomim infatum, T. & F., the so-called 
''Desert Trumpet" or ''Pickles," found abundantly 
on the southwestern desert as far north as Utah and 
eas-tward to New Mexico. It is remarkable for its 
bluish-green, leafless stalks, hollow and puffed out 
like a trumpet, sometimes to the diameter of an inch 
or so, and rising out of a radical cluster of small 
heart-shaped leaves. The stems before flowering 
are tender and are eaten raw. 

The peppery, anti-scorbutic juices of the Mu-stard 
family supply a valuable element in the human 
dietary everywhere ; and besides the important vege- 
tables and condiments that represent it in our 
gardens — such as cabbage, turnips, radishes, horse- 
radish, etc. — there are several species growing wild 

123 



USEFUL WILD PLANTS 

that have been proved of worth. Water-cress, 
known to everybody {Nasturtium officinale, R. Br.) 
and originally introduced, at least in the East, from 
Europe, is now a common aquatic throughout a large 
part of the United States and Canada. The waters 
of springs and brooks are often found thickly 
blanketed with green coverlets of this plant dotted 
with the tiny white flowers, and lending spice to the 
wayfarer's luncheon. Winter Cress, Yellow Rocket, 
or Barbara's Cress {Barharea vulgaris, R. Br.) used 
to be very generally eaten by people of humble 
gastronomic aspirations, so that it has acquired the 
additional name of Poor Man's Cabbage, being pre- 
pared either as a pot-herb or as a salad. It is 
abundant by roadsides and in low-lying fi'elds quite 
across the continent, and, in fact, almost around the 
world, and was no doubt cultivated in our colonial 
gardens. Even in winter, when the snow melts 
enough to show bare patches of earth, the tufted, 
thickish leaves of this sturdy mustard are frequently 
revealed, green and alive, hugging the ground. The 
lower leaves are of the shape that botanists call 
lyrate — that is, long and deeply lobed, with one to 
four pairs of segments and a terminal one large and 
roundish. In early spring it sends up a spike of 
showy, yellow, four-petaled flowers. Quite similar 

124 




Winter Cress 
(Barbarea vulgaris) 



125 



USEFUL WILD PLANTS 

to this, and by some botanists considered only a 
variety of it, is the Scurvy Grass {Barbarea praecox, 
R. Br.), with leaf divisions more numerous than 
those of the Winter Cress. It, also, is used as a 
winter salad. It must have been very grateful to 
systems suffering from the unvaried ration of salt 
meat that too often distinguished the winter tables 
of our rural ancestors. 

In the same class are two large cruciferous plants 
of the arid regions of the Far West, that go by the 
name of Wild Cabbage among the whites who know 
them. Their tender stems and leaves have a cab- 
bage-like taste and have at times gone into the 
pioneer's cooking pots. One is Stanley a pinnatifida, 
Nutt., found in dry, even desert soil, from South 
Dakota to New Mexico and westward to California, 
a stout, smooth perennial, two to four feet tall, with 
lower leaves divided into slender segments and with 
long racemes of yellow, four-petaled flowers, suc- 
ceeded by slender seed-vessels downwardly curved 
on long foot-stalks. The other is Caulantlius crassi- 
caulis (Torr.), Wats., found on dry foothills of the 
interior basin from the Sierra Nevada to Utah. It, 
too, is a stout, smooth perennial, two to three feet 
high, but with hollow, inflated stems, leaves mostly 
radical and in shape somewhat like a dandelion's, 

126 



EDIBLE STEMS AND LEAVES 

and dark-purple flowers each with four crisped, wavy 
petals little larger than the woolly calyx. The young 
plants, while still tender, are edible but need to be 
cooked. The process pursued by the Panamint 
Indians is thus described by Coville : ''The leaves 
and young stems are gathered and thrown into boil- 
ing water for a few minutes, then taken out, washed 
in cold water, and squeezed. The operation of 
washing is repeated five or six times, and the leaves 
are finally dried, ready to be used as boiled cabbage. 
Washing removes the bitter taste and certain sub- 
stances that would be likely to produce nausea or 
diarrhoea." 

One would suppose that the stinging Nettle 
{Urtica dioica, L.) would be as unlikely a subject 
as one could readily find to supply a morsel where- 
with to tickle the palate. Nevertheless, this "nat- 
uralized nuisance," as good old Doctor Darling- 
ton of "Flora Cestrica" fame testily styles it, has 
long been valued as a vegetable in Europe, whence 
the plant has come to us. There the tender shoots, 
cut before the flowering stage, were served in old 
times on the tables of the well-to-do as well as of 
the peasantry. On a day in February, 1661, Mr. 
Samuel Pepys, of immortal memory, ingenuously 
set down in his diary the fact that calling upon one 

127 



USEFUL WILD PLANTS 

Mr. Simons in London, he found tlie gentleman 
abroad, ''but she, like a good lady, within, and there 
we did eat some nettle porridge, which was made 
on purpose to-day for some of their coming, and was 
very good. ' ' Was it not Goldsmith who wrote that 
a French cook of the olden time could make seven 
different dishes out of a nettle-top? 

Along our Southwestern border from Texas to 
California and southward into Mexico a species of 
Amaranth grows (Amaranthus Palmeri, Wats.), 
known to the Mexicans and Indians as quelite (a 
general name among the Mexican population, I 
believe, for greens) or more specifically as hledo. 
The latter word is good Spanish for ''blite," an Old 
World pot-herb. Quelite is highly regarded when 
young and tender as a vegetable for men, and, when 
cut and stacked, as a winter feed for cattle. It is a 
stout, weedy annual, two to four feet high, the ovate 
leaves one to four inches long on footstalks about 
twice that length, the greenish flowers of two sexes 
(on different plants) disposed in long, dense chaffy 
spikes. Only the young plants should be gathered; 
they should then be boiled without delay, and the 
result, in the judgment of white people who know it, 
is a dish resembling asparagus in flavor, and rather 
superior to spinach. Mexicans and Indians have 

128 



EDIBLE STEMS AND LEAVES 

used it extensively.- Other species of Amaranths 
have been similarly turned to account. 

This little course in wild pot-herbs may now be 
closed with mention of three members of the Portu- 
laca family. These plants are marked by smooth, 
succulent, thickish leaves, and though humble herbs, 
they are usually found, when found at all, in sufficient 
abundance to be very noticeable. Most familiar is 
the little prostrate plant common everywhere in 
fields and waste places, called Purslane {Portulaca 
oleracea, L.). It is generally regarded by Ameri- 
cans as a weed and provokes the temper by its stub- 
born persistence in turning up after it has appar- 
ently been eradicated. It has, however, held quite 
a respectable social position abroad, where garden- 
ers have cultivated it and developed it as a whole- 
some vegetable useful not onty as a pot-herb but for 
salads and pickles. On the Pacific slope a cousin of 
the Purslane, known as Miner's or Indian Lettuce 
{Montia perfoliata, Howell), is abundant in shady 
places. It is easily recognized by clustered, long- 
stalked, fleshy root-leaves, rhomboidal in outline, 
from among which a flower stalk rises to the height 
of several inches. This is terminated by a raceme 
of tiny white flowers beneath which a pair of oppo- 

2 Lumholtz, "New Trails in Mexico." 

129 




Miner's Lettuce 
(Montia perfoliataj 



130 



EDIBLE STEMS AND LEAVES 

site leaves united at their bases forms a cup or 
saucer around the stem, a diagnostic feature of the 
plant. The Indians were very fond of the pleasant 
succulence of the stem and leaves and their consump- 
tion of the herb led the white pioneers to try it. 
It makes, indeed, a palatable enough dish, either 
raw with a sprinkling of salad dressing or boiled 
and served like spinach. Stephen Powers tells of a 
certain tribe of California Indians who were accus- 
tomed to lay the leaves near the nests of red ants, 
which running over the greens would flavor them 
with a formic acidity that served in lieu of vinegar ! ^ 
The value of this little wilding is attested by its intro- 
duction into English kitchen gardens, where, under 
the name of Winter Purslane, it is esteemed as a 
pot-herb and a salad plant. 

Also of California is another of the Portulaca kin- 
ship, the pretty wild flower known as Eed Maids or 
Kisses {Calandrinia caulescens Menziesii, Grray), 
whose crimson blossoms expanding in the sunshine 
make sheets of vivid color over considerable areas 
in the spring. The plant is an annual with juicy 
stem and leaves, and may be used like those others 
of its family just mentioned as a garnish to a meal. 

If, as we have seen, the Nettle may be made to 

3 "Contributions to North American Ethnology," vol. Ill, 425. 

131 



USEFUL WILD PLANTS 

grace the table, it is quite credible that within the 
spiny armor of the Cactus tribe nutrition may be 
hiding. As a matter of fact, in the Southwest the 
Mexican and Indian population resort to the Nopal 
(that is, the flat-jointed sort of Opuntia) not only 
for the tuna fruit, as described in a previous chapter, 
but also for the succulent flesh of the stem, which 
may be made to do duty as a vegetable. The Mexi- 
cans call these flattened joints pencas, and gather the 
young ones when about half grown and before the 
spines have hardened. Cut into narrow strips, 
boiled until tender and served with a tasty dressing 
or just salt and pepper, they are about in the class 
of string beans, particularly grateful to desert dwell- 
ers whose craving for green food it is not always 
easy to satisfy. There is a bluish-green, procumbent 
cactus without spines {Opuntia basilaris, Engelm.) 
common in the southwestern deserts, that has been 
in particular favor with the Indians, and the Pana- 
mint method of preparing it, as recorded by Mr. 
Coville,"* may be stated here : In May or early June 
the fleshy joints of the season's growth, as well as 
the buds, blossoms and immature fruit, are distended 
with sweet sap. The joints are then broken off and 
collected, carefully rubbed with grass to remove the 

4 The American Anthropologist, October, 1892. 

132 



EDIBLE STEMS AND LEAVES 

tiny bristles, and spread in the sun to dry. After 
being thoroughly dried, they will keep indefinitely, 
and are boiled as required and eaten with a season- 
ing of salt. An alternative process is to steam the 
joints for about twelve hours in stone-lined pits first 
made hot by a fire of brush. The cactus, .thus 
cooked, may be eaten at once or dried and laid away 
for future use. It then has the texture and appear- 
ance of unpeeled dried peaches. 

From the curious, cylindrical, keg-like bodies of 
another cactus of the Southwest {Echinocactus sp.), 
termed hisnaga by the Mexicans, or Barrel Cactus 
by polite Americans (others sometimes style it 
Nigger-head), a sort of conserve used to be made by 
the Papago Indians of Arizona — the prototype of 
the so-called "Cactus Candy" of city shops. The 
process, as described by Dr. Edward Palmer, was 
to pare away the thorny rind of a large specimen 
and let it remain several days '* to bleed. " Then the 
pulp was cut up into pieces of suitable size and boiled 
in the syrup of the Sahuaro pitaliayas, obtained as 
described in the preceding chapter. Another and 
more important use of this cactus will be described 
later. 

Few plants of the Southwestern desert region are 
more interesting and useful than the Agave, a genus 

133 



USEFUL WILD PLANTS 

of the Amaryllis familj^ Its general aspects are 
made familiar through the well-known Century 
Plant of cultivation. There are a dozen species or 
more indigenous within the limits of the United 
States, ranging mostly along the Mexican border 
from Texas to California. For years — ten to 
twenty, it may be — the plant devotes itself exclu- 
sively to developing a rosette of slender, pulpy, 
dagger-pointed leaves, stiff and fibrous. Then some 
spring day, within the center of this savage leaf- 
cradle, a conical bud is born and develops quickly, 
a foot a day it may be, into a huge, asparagus-like 
stalk, twelve or fifteen feet tall, that breaks out at 
the summit into clusters of yellow blossoms. This 
long delayed consummation costs the plant its life, 
and with the maturing of its seeds it turns brown 
and withers away. It is from a Mexican species of 
Agave that the Mexicans manufacture their desolat- 
ing drinks pulque and mescal. The United States 
species, however, have been little turned to such 
account, but as a nutritive food source they have 
from very ancient times been important to the 
Indians. This food shares with the fiery Mexican 
drink the name mescal. Even at the present day, 
when the ease of extracting a meal from a tin can 
has been the cause of relegating many an honest 

134 



EDIBLE STEMS AND LEAVES 

old-time cookery to oblivion, there are Indians who 
jjack up every spring and repair to the mescal fields, 
there to open again the ancient baking pits which 
their fathers and their fathers before them had used, 
and camp for a week at a time, cutting and cooking, 
feasting and singing, and telling once more the im- 
memorial legends of their race. 

The process of preparing mescal as I happen to 
have observed it in California is this: The succu- 
lent, budding flower-stalks when just emerging from 
amid the leaves are cut out with an axe, or better yet 
with a native implement fashioned for the purpose — 
a long, stout lever of hard wood (oak or mountain 
mahogany) beveled at one end like a chisel. They 
are then trimmed of their tips and all adhering leaf- 
age, the desirable portion being the butt, which is 
filled with all the pent-up energy that the plant was 
holding in reserve for the supreme act of flower and 
seed production. Meantime, a circular pit, about a 
foot and a half deep and five or six feet in diameter, 
has been prepared — usually one that has been used 
in previous years being dug out. This is lined side 
and bottom with flat stones, and a huge fire of dry 
brush started in it, care being taken to use no wood 
that is bitter. When the fire has burned down, the 
mescal butts are placed in the hot ashes, covered 

135 



USEFUL WILD PLANTS 

over with more hot ashes and heated stones from the 
sides of the pit, and all is then buried beneath a 
mound of earth. There the mescal is left to steam 
until some time the next day, like the four-and- 
twenty blackbirds of the nursery rhyme in their 
pie. When the pit is opened the mescal, still hot and 
now charred on the outside, is drawn out, the burnt 
exterior pared off, and the brown, sticky inside laid 
bare, to be eaten on the spot or laid away to cool and 
be transported home for future use. If the buds 
have been cut young enough, mescal is tender and 
sweet, the flavor suggesting a cross between pine- 
apple and banana and pleasant to most white 
palates. Indians are extravagantly fond of it, and 
it is rare indeed that the stock carried home lasts 
over the following summer. Should the buds be too 
old when cooked, the result is unpleasantly fibrous, 
though in such cases one need only chew until the 
edible part is consumed, when the fibre may be spat 
out. Mr. Coville, in his account of the Panamints 
above quoted, speaks of finding at some forsaken 
Indian camps along the Colorado River, dried and 
weathered wads of chewed mescal fibre — visible re- 
minders of forgotten feasts. 

Denizens of the same region with the Agaves, and 

136 



F 




J 



EDIBLE STEMS AND LEAVES 

somewhat resembling them, are several species of 
Dasylirioii, but the leaves, which form a crown upon 
a central stem, are much narrower and the small 
flowers are white and constructed on the plan of the 
lily. They are called, in popular parlance. Bear- 
grass, from Bruin's fondness for the tender stalks, 
or more generally by their Mexican name, Sotol. 
The budding flower-stalks are to some extent used 
like mescal — roasted and eaten. So, too, the beauti- 
ful Yucca Whipplei, Torr., abundant throughout 
Southern California and adjacent regions, has been 
made to add variety to the aboriginal menu. The 
splendid flower masses of this plant, several feet in 
length and rising in pure white spires out of a 
bristling clump of slender, rigid, spine-tipped 
leaves, are a famous sight in parts of the Southwest. 
Americans call this Yucca ''Spanish Bayonet," or 
sometimes more poetically ''The Lord's Candle." 
To Mexicans it is quiote, one of the many Aztec 
terms that survive with little mutilation in the 
Spanish dialect of the Southwest. The flower-stalk, 
when full grown but before the buds expand, is filled 
with sap and is edible, cut into sections and either 
boiled or roasted in the ashes. The tough rind 
should "first be peeled off. The flower buds, too, 

137 



USEFUL WILD PLANTS 

make a palatable vegetable, if boiled, and serve as 
a succulent side-dish to the camper's usually 
monotonous dry diet. 

On the Southeastern rim of our country from 
North Carolina to Florida, a common tree is the Cab- 
bage Palmetto {Sahal Palmetto, E. & S.), which 
South Carolina has adopted as so peculiarly her 
own that she is known as the Palmetto State. It is 
a palm of much the general look of the California 
Fan Palm, though it never attains so great a height 
as the latter often does. All palms grow by the de- 
velopment of a central, terminal leaf -bud, and this in 
some species — the Palmetto is one — is turned to ac- 
count as an edible, being popularly known as a 
''cabbage." When cooked, the Palmetto cabbage is 
a tender, succulent vegetable, though the harvest- 
ing of the buds is a wasteful practice, unless it is 
desired to clear the land, as cutting them out kills 
the trees. 

We have it on the authority of Holy Writ that 
Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, foregathered for 
a season with the beasts of the field and ate grass 
as oxen, finding it, it is to be assumed, a sustain- 
ing ration. The Indians of California, curiously 
enough, long ago acquired and maintained more per- 
sistently than the royal Babylonian a similar habit 

138 



EDIBLE STEMS AND LEAVES 

of turning themselves out to pasture, to feast upon 
the patches of wild clover. This thoy ate raw and 
with greedy avidity, before the flowering stage, while 
the plants were still young and tender. In fact, 
clover was another of the aboriginal food plants 
esteemed as so important as to be honored with 
especial dance ceremonies. Chesnut speaks of see- 
ing groups of Indians in Mendocino County, Cali- 
fornia, wallowing in the wild clover, plucking the 
herbage and eating it by the handful. Its nutritive 
content is unquestioned, if only one have the diges- 
tive organs to handle it, chemical analysis of the 
leaves showing the presence of food elements in 
good degree. Intemperate indulgence, however, is 
liable to cause bloat and severe indigestion. The 
Indians, to obviate this, learned that dipping the 
leaves in salted wator, or munching with them the 
parched kernels of the Pepper-nut (the fruit of the 
California Laurel, TJmhellularia Californica) is 
efficacious.^ Not all species of clover are considered 
equally good. The favorite, still to quote Chesnut, 
is the so-called "sweet clover" {Trifolium virescens, 
G-reene), distinguished by stout, succulent stems, 
ovate leaflets, large, inflated yellow ami pink flowers, 

5 V. K. Chesnut, "Plants Used by the Indians of .Mendocino Co., 
California." 

139 



USEFUL WILD PLANTS 

and a noticeable sweetness of taste. Of this species 
even the flowers are eaten. Next to this in favor 
is the ''sour" or "salt clover" (T. obtusiforum, 
Hook.), with narrow, saw-toothed leaflets, whitish 
blossoms with purple centers, and a clammy, acid- 
ulous exudation that covers the leaves and flowers. 



1 



140 



CHAPTER VII 
BEVERAGE PLANTS OF FIELD AND WOOD 

And sip with nymphs their elemental tea. 

Pope. 

MAN dearly loves a sup of drink with his meat, 
and when our pioneer ancestors in the Ameri- 
can wilderness ran short of tea and coffee and craved 
a change from cold water, they found material for 
m'ore or less acceptable substitutes in numerous wild 
plants. Particularly during the American Revolu- 
tion was interest awakened in these, and several 
popular plant-names still current date from those 
days of privation. Again during our Civil War the 
attention of residents in the South was similarly 
drawn to the wild offerings of nature. A literary 
curiosity, now rare, of those dark days may still be 
turned up in libraries, a book entitled ''Resources 
of Southern Fields and Forests . . . with practical 
information on the useful properties of the Trees, 
Plants and Shrubs," by Francis Peyre Porcher, 
Charleston, S. C, 1863, the writer being then a 
surgeon in the Confederate Army. 

141 



USEFUL WILD PLANTS 

Among such beverage plants one of the best known 
is a little shrub, two or three feet high, frequent in 
dry woodlands and thickets of the eastern half of the 
continent from Canada to Texas and Florida, com- 
monly called New Jersey Tea, the Ceanothus Ameri- 
canus, L., of the botanists. It is characterized by 
pointed, ovate, toothed leaves, two or three inches 
long, strongly 3-nerved, and by a large, dark red 
root, astringent and capable of yielding a red dye. 
This last feature has given rise to another name for 
the plant in some localities — Red Root. In late 
spring and early summer the bushes are noticeable 
from the presence of abundant, feathery clusters of 
tiny, white, long-clawed flowers which, if examined 
closely, are seen to resemble minute hoods or bonnets 
extended at arm's length. The leaves contain a 
small proportion of a bitter alkaloid called ceano- 
thine, and were long ago found to make a passable 
substitute for Chinese tea. During the Revolutionary 
War an infusion of the dried leaves as a beverage 
was in common use, both because of the odium at- 
tached to real tea after the taxation troubles with 
England, and from motives of necessity. Connois- 
seurs claim that the leaves should be dried in the 
shade. There are a score or more of species of 
Ceanothus indigenous to the Pacific coast, where 

142 




Neav Jersey Tea 
(Ceano thus A mericanus) 



143 



USEFUL WILD PLANTS 

they are known as ''myrtle" or ''wild lilac"; but I 
have not heard of their leaves being used like those 
of the eastern species mentioned. These plants 
will be referred to again in the chapter on Vege- 
table Soaps. 

Another of the Revolutionary War substitutes was 
the foliage of the so-called Labrador Tea {Ledum 
Groenlandicum, Oeder), a low evergreen shrub of 
cold bogs throughout Canada and the northeastern 
L'nited States as far south as Pennsylvania. A dis- 
tinguishing feature is in the narrow, leathery leaves 
with margins rolled back and a coating of rustj^ wool 
on the under side. When pinched the foliage ex- 
hales a slight fragrance. 

The familiar Sassafras of rich woods, old fields and 
fencerows on the Atlantic side of the country at- 
tracted attention very early in colonial days, and all 
sorts of virtues as a remedial agent were ascribed 
to it. During the Civil War, Sassafras tea became 
a common substitute for the Chinese article, and as a 
spring drink for purifying the system it still has 
a hold on the popular affection. The root is the 
part generally utilized, an infusion of the bark being 
made which is aromatic and stimulant. The flowers 
also may be similarly treated. 

Of the same family with the Sassafras and of 

144 



BEVERAGE PLANTS 

much the same distribution is the common Spice- 
wood, Wild Allspice, or Feverbush^ {Lindera Ben- 
zoin, Blume), a shrubby denizen of damp woods and 
moist grounds, easily recognized in early spring by 
the little bunches of honey-yellow flowers that stud 
the branches before the leaves appear. The whole 
bush is spicily fragrant, and a decoction of the twigs 
makes another pleasant substitute for tea, at one 
time particularly in vogue in the South. Dr. 
Porcher states that during the Civil War soldiers 
from the upper country in South Carolina serving 
in the company of which he was surgeon, came into 
camp fully supplied with Spicewood for making this 
fragrant, aromatic beverage. Andre Michaux, a 
French botanist who traveled afoot and horse-back 
through much of the eastern United States when it 
was still a wilderness, half starving by day and 
sleeping on a deer-skin at night, has left in his jour- 
nal the following record of the virtues of Spicewood 
tea, served him at a pioneer's cabin: ''I had 
supped the previous evening [February 9, 1796] on 
tea made from the shrub called Spicewood. A 
handful of young twigs or branches is set to boil and 

1 Also called Benjamin-bush, corrupted from benzoin, an aromatic 
gum of the Orient which, however, is derived from quite another 
family of plants. French-Canadians used to call the Spicewood, 
poivrier, which means pepper plant. 

145 



BEVERAGE PLANTS 

after it lias boiled at least a quarter of an hour, 
sugar is added and it is drunk like tea. ... I was 
told milk makes it much more agreeable to the taste. 
This beverage restores strength, and it had that 
effect, for I was very tired when I arrived." The 
scarlet berries that cling like beads to the branches 
in the autumn used to be dried and powdered for 
use as a household spice, whence, obviously, the 
name Wild Allspice sometimes given to the shrub. 

The warm, birchy flavor of the creeping Winter- 
green {GauUheria procumhens, L., the use of whose 
berries was noted in the previous chapter) could 
hardly have failed to attract attention to the plant 
as a likely substitute for Chinese tea when the latter 
was unobtainable; and one of its popular names, 
Teaberry, indicates that that is what happened — an 
infusion of the leaves being made. A pleasant and 
wholesome drink may also be made from the foliage 
of one of the Goldenrods — Solidago odora, Ait. 
This is a slender, low-growing species with one- 
sided panicles of flowers, not uncommon in dry or 
sandy soil from New England to Texas and dis- 
tinguished by an anise-like fragrance given off by 
the minutely dotted leaves when bruised. A com- 
mon name for it is Mountain Tea, and in some parts 
of the country the gathering of the leaves to dry an-d 

147 




Spicewood 
(Lindera Benzoin) 



146 



USEFUL WILD PLANTS 

peddle in the winter has formed a minor rural in- 
dustry, yielding a modest revenue. 

The devotees of coffee, too, have found in the 
wilderness places substitutes for their cheering cup. 
One of these is the seed of the Kentucky Coffee-tre'e 
{Gymnocladus Canadensis, Lam.), a picturesque 
forest tree with double-compound leaves occurring 
from Canada to Oklahoma. In winter it is conspicu- 
ous because of the peculiar clubby bluntness of the 
bare branches, due to the absence of small twigs and 
branchlets, which gives to the whole tree a lifeless 
sort of look that gained for it among the Fre-nch 
settlers the name Chicot, a stump. In the autumn 
the female trees (the species is dioecious) are seen 
hanging with brown, sickle-like pods six to eight 
inches long and an inch or two wide, and containing 
in the midst of a sweetish pulp several hard, flattish 
seeds. If we are to judge from the popular name 
it was probably the pioneers in Kentucky that first 
had an inspiration to roast these seeds and grind 
them for beverage purposes. The fact is, however, 
that a century ago such use of them was quite preva- 
lent in what was then the western wilderness, and 
travelers' diaries of the time make frequent mention 
of the practice. The journal, for instance, of Major 

148 



IJEVERAGE PLANTS 

Long's cxpodition to the Rocky Mountains in 1819-20 
records that while in winter camp on the Missouri 
Biver near Council Bluffs, the party substituted 
these seeds for coffee and found the beverage both 
palatable and wholesome. Thomas Nuttall, the 
botanist, who botanized the following year around 
the mouth of the Ohio River, testifies to the agree- 
ableness of the parched seeds as an article of diet, 
but thought that as a substitute for coffee they were 
''greatly inferior to cichorium. " 

Cichorium is the botanists ' way of saying Chicory, 
the plant that has been referred to already as pro- 
ducing leaves useful as a salad. Its root has had a 
rather bad name as an adulterant of coffee, in which 
delusive form it has perhaps entered more human 
stomachs than the human mind is aware of. As a 
drink in itself, sailing under its own colors, Chicory 
is not a bad drink, the root being first roasted and 
ground. It is rather surprising, by the way, to 
learn that a palatable beverage is possible from 
steeping the needles .of the Hemlock tree {Tsuga 
Canadensis, Carr.) — which is not to be confused with 
the poisonous herb that Socrates died of. Hemlock 
tea is, or at least used to be, a favorite drink of the 
eastern lumbermen, and I have myself drunk it 

149 



USEFUL WILD PLANTS 

with a certain relish. Similarly the leaves of the 
magnificent Douglas Spruce {Pseudotsuga taxifolia, 
Britt.) of the Pacific coast produce by infusion a 
beverage which many Indians and some whites have 
esteemed as a substitute for coffee. 

The Mint family, well advertised by the pro- 
nounced and usually agreeable fragrances given off 
by its members, has been utilized as a source less 
of ordinary beverages than of medicinal teas, ad- 
ministered in fevers and digestive troubles. Such 
plants of the former sort as have come to my notice 
are all western. One of these has, in fact, played 
both roles. This is the aromatic little vine known 
in California as Yerba Buena (the botanist's Micro- 
meria Douglasii, Benth.), found in half shaded 
woods and damp ravines of the Coast Ranges from 
British Columbia to the neighborhood of Los An- 
geles. Its dried leaves steeped for a few minutes 
in hot water make a palatable beverage mildly 
stimulating to the digestion, and, like real tea, even 
provocative of gossip ; for it is an historic little 
plant, this Yerba Buena, which gave name to the 
Mexican village out of which the city of San Fran- 
cisco afterwards rose. The two words, which mean 
literally ''good herb," are merely the Spanish for 
our term "garden mint," of whose qualities the 

150 



1 




Yekba Buena 
(Micromeria Douglasii) 



151 



USEFUL WILD PLANTS 

wild plant somewhat partakes.^ Of the Mint tribe, 
also, is the herb Chia, about whose edible seeds- 
something has been said. At the present day, Chia 
is better known as a drinlv than as a food. A tea- 
spoonful of the seeds steeped in a tumbler of cold 
water for a few minutes communicates a mucilagin- 
ous quality to the liquid. This may be drunk plain, 
but among the Mexicans, who are very fond of it as 
a refreshment, the customary mode of serving it 
is with the addition of a little sugar and a dash of 
lemon juice. The tiny seeds, which swim about in 
the mixture, should be swallowed also, and add 
nutrition to the beverage. A Spanish-California 
lady of the old school gave me my first glass of Chia, 
and recommended it as "mejor que ice-cream" (bet- 
ter than ice cream). 

Of quite a different sort, but equally refreshing 
and easy to decoct, is the woodland drink called 
''Indian lemonade," made from the crimson, berry- 
like fruits of certain species of Sumac. East of the 
Eockies there are three species abundant, dis- 

1 The mint of the gardens {Mentha viridis and, to a less extent, 
M. piperita) is a common escape in damp ground and by streamsides 
throughout the coimtry. In the Southwest the leaves, under the 
name of Yerba Buena, are used in the same way as those of Micro- 
meria. A steaming hot infusion of mint leaves is a bracing beverage 
highly esteemed by tired, wet vaqueros coming in at evening from 
their day's work on the range. 

152 




Sumac 
(Rhus glabra) 



153 



USEFUL WILD PLANTS 

tinguished by compact, terminal, cone-like panicles 
of white flowers and pinnate leaves that turn all 
glorious in the autumn in tones of orange and red. 
They are Rhus typhina, L. (Staghorn Sumac), R. 
glabra, L, (Smooth Sumac), and R. copallina, L. 
(Dwarf Sumac). The first is sometimes a small 
tree; the others are shrubs. In the Kocky Moun- 
tain region and westward Rhus trilohata, Nutt., is 
frequent — the Squaw-bush, as it is called, because 
the branches are extensively used by the Indian 
women in basketry; and on the Pacific coast, Rhus 
ovata, Wats., and R. integrifolia, B. & H., stout 
shrubs or small trees, occur. The last two have 
leathery, entire leaves quite unlike those of the 
eastern species, and the white or pinkish flowers 
are borne in tight little clusters. The berries of all 
these sumacs are crimson and clothed with a hairy 
stickiness that is pleasantly acid and communicates 
a lemon-like taste to water in which the fruit has 
been soaked for a few minutes. These plants — par- 
ticularly the western species — are often found grow- 
ing on hot, waterless hillsides, and their fruits offer 
a grateful refreshment to the thirsty traveler, 
whether sucked in the mouth until bared of their acid 
coating, or steeped in water to serve as a woodland 
lemonade. The three far western species are com- 

154 




Lemon ade-beebt 
(Rhus integrifolia) 



155 



USEFUL WILD PLANTS 

monly known as Lemonade-berry, and R. integri- 
folia is also sometimes called ''mahogany" because 
of its hard wood, dark red at the heart. The Spanish 
people call it mangla, a name they give to some other 
sumacs as well. 

The berries of the Manzanita, a Pacific coast shrub 
that was described in an earlier chapter, make an 
exceptionally agreeable cider. This is one of the 
harmless beverages of Indian invention, and I can- 
not, perhaps, do better than to quote the method that 
Chesnut describes in his treatise on the "Plants 
Used by the Indians of Mendocino Co., California." 
Ripe berries, carefully selected to exclude any that 
are worm-eaten, are scalded for a few minutes or 
until the seeds are soft, and then crushed with a 
potato masher. To a quart of this pulp an equal 
quantity of water is added, and the mass is then 
poured over a layer of dry pine needles or straw 
placed in a shallow sieve basket and allowed to drain 
into a vessel beneath; or sometimes the mass is 
allowed to stand an hour or so before straining. 
When cool, the cider, which is both spicy and acid, 
is ready for use without the addition of sugar. A 
better quality of cider is said to result if the pulp 
alone is used. The dried berries, in the latter case, 
are pounded to a coarse powder, and then by clever 

156 



BEVERAGE PLANTS 

manipulation and tossing in a flat basket — a process 
at which the Indian woman is an adept — the heavier 
bits of seed are made to roll off while the fine par- 
ticles of pulp cling to the basket. 

The desert, too, has its beverage plants. There, 
if anyv/here, pure water takes its place as the most 
luxurious of drinks, and the sands bear at least one 
group of plants from which good water may be 
obtained, namely, the Barrel Cactuses {Echinocac- 
tus) of the Southwest, of which something has been 
said under another head. The juices of most cacti, 
while often plentiful, are as often bitter to nauseous- 
ness; but those of the Barrel Cactus — or at least of 
certain species — are quite drinkable, and the rotund, 
keg-like plants serve a very important purpose as 
reservoirs of soft water. This is readily obtainable 
by horizontally slicing off the top and pounding up 
the succulent, melon-like pulp with a hatdiet or piece 
of blunt, hard wood that is not bitter. In this way 
the watery content is released and may be dipped out 
with a cup. In the case of some species, I believe, 
the juice is too much impregnated Avith mineral 
substances to be drinkable ; but in others — as Echino- 
cactus Wislizeni, Engelm., E. Emorpi, Engelm., and 
E. cylindraccus, Engelm. — the fluid obtained is clear 
and pleasant to the taste, quenching the thirst satis- 

157 



USEFUL WILD PLANTS 

factorily. An odd and all but forgotten use of these 
vegetable water barrels of the desert is their former 
employment by Indians as cooking vessels. The 
fleshy interior was scooped out and the shell treated 
as a pot, into which water (secured by the mashing 
up of the pulp) was poured, heated with hot stones 
and these withdrawn as they cooled and replaced 
with hotter. Meantime the meat and other edibles 
were dropped in and allowed to simmer until done. 
Upon breaking camp, the cook abandoned her im- 
promptu kettle, depending upon finding material for 
a new one at the next stopping place. 

Throughout the arid and semi-desert regions of the 
Southwest from New Mexico to Southern California, 
a peculiar plant called Ephedra by the botanists is 
abundant. There are several recognized species but 
all have so strong a family resemblance that in 
popular parlance they are lumped as one and spoken 
of as Desert Tea or Teamster's Tea. They are 
shrubby plants, two or three feet high, greenish- 
yellow and distinguished by slim, cylindrical, many- 
jointed stems and abundant opposite branches, the 
leaves reduced to mere scales. The clustered flow- 
ers, inconspicuous and borne in the axils of the 
branches, are of two sorts on different plants, the 
pistillate producing solitary, black seeds of intense 

158 







Pi m 



< .1 




1 



BEVERAGE FLAN'JS 

bitterness. The plant is well stocked with tannin, 
and an infusion of the branches — green or dried — in 
boiling water has long been in favor with the desert 
people, red and white. Desert Tea was first adopted 
by the white explorers and frontiersmen as a me- 
dicinal drink, supposed to act as a blood purifier and 
to be especially efficacious in the first stages of 
venereal diseases ; but its use at meals as an ordinary 
hot beverage in substitution for tea or coffee is by 
no means uncommon, and cowboys will sometimes 
tell you they prefer it to any other. The Spanish- 
speaking people call the plant Canutillo, a word 
meaning little tube or pipe. Similarly used is the 
Encinilla or Chaparral Tea (Croton corymbulosiis, 
Engelm.), a gray-leaved plant of the Euphorbia 
family found in western Texas and adjacent regions. 
The flowering tops are the part employed, and an 
infusion of them is palatable to many. Dr. Havard, 
in an article on ''The Drink Plants of the North 
American Indians,"^ stated that in his experience 
not only Mexicans and Indians enjoyed it, but that 
the colored United States soldiers of the southwest- 
ern frontier preferred it to coffee. The plant con- 
tains certain volatile oils but apparently no stimu- 
lating principle. Thelesperma, a Southwestern 

2 Bulletin Torrey Botanical Club. Vol. XXIII, No. 2. 

159 



USEFUL WILD PLANTS 

genus of herbaceous plants of the Composite family, 
somewhat resembling Coreopsis, with opposite, finely- 
dissected, strong-scented leaves and yellow flowers 
(sometimes without rays), furnishes a species or 
two used as substitutes for tea by the Mexican 
population. Thelesperma longipes, Gray, occur- 
ring from western Texas to Arizona, is commonly 
known as Cota, and is said to give a red color to the 
water in which it is boiled. 

Much more appealing to the average taste is a 
drink that Mexicans sometimes make from the oily 
kernels of the jojoba nut of Southern California and 
northern Mexico {Simmondsia Calif ornica, described 
previously). Mr. Walter Nordhoff, of San Diego 
and Los Angeles, informs me that the process fol- 
lowed is first to roast them and then treat them in 
the same way as the Spanish people prepare their 
chocolate. This, I believe, is to grind the kernels 
together with the yolk of hard boiled egg, and boil 
the pasty mass in water with the addition of sugar 
and milk. When they can afford it a pleasant flavor- 
ing is given by steeping a vanilla bean for a moment 
or two in the hot beverage. This makes a nourish- 
ing drink as well as a savory substitute for one's 
morning chocolate or coffee. A substitute for choco- 
late among the American population of some sec- 

160 



BEVERAGE PLANTS 

tionsof the United States is furnished by the reddish- 
brown, creeping rootstock of the Purple or Water 
Avens {Geum rivale, L.), a perennial herb with 
coarse, pinnate basal leaves and 5-petaled, purplish, 
nodding flowers, borne on erect stems a couple of 
feet high. The plant is frequent in low grounds and 
swamps throughout much of the northern part of 
the United States and in Canada, as well as in Eu- 
rope and Asia. The rootstock is characterized by 
a clove-like fragrance and a tonic, astringent prop- 
erty, and has been used by country people in 
decoction as a beverage, with milk and sugar, under 
the name of Indian Chocolate or Chocolate-root. It 
is the color, however, rather than the taste that has 
suggested the common name. Lucinda Haynes 
Lombard, writing in "The American Botanist" for 
November, 1918, mentions a curious popular super- 
stition to the effect that friends provided with Avens 
leaves are able to converse with one another though 
many miles apart and speaking in whispers! 

Eeaders of literature concerning old time explora- 
tions in America will perhaps recall passages in 
the reports of various writers devoted to accounts 
of a beverage called Yaupon, Cassena, or the Black 
Drink, formerly in great vogue among the Indians 
of the Southern Atlantic States and colonies. One 

161 



USEFUL WILD PLANTS 

of those ancient chroniclers who did so much to 
misinform Europe about the New World and its 
products, speaks of this Black Drink as a veritable 
elixir that would ''wonderfully enliven and invig- 
orate the heart with genuine, easie sweats and 
transpirations, preserving the mind free and serene, 
keeping the body brisk and lively, not for an hour 
or two, but for as many days, without other nourish- 
ment or subsistence." (!) William Bartram, to 
whose account of the Indian uses of Southern plants 
something over a century ago reference was made in 
an earlier chapter, speaks of spending a night with 
an Indian chief in Florida, smoking tobacco and 
drinking Cassena from conch shells. Bartram does 
not seem to have liked his Cassena, and in point 
of fact few white people ever did; but the wide 
prevalence of its consumption among the Southern 
Indians, who once drove a brisk inter-tribal trade in 
the leaves, and the fact that the Cassena plant is 
nearly related to the famous.Paraguyan drink yerha 
mate, have created some latter-day interest in the 
Black Drink. The plant from which it is made is a 
species of spineless Holly or Ilex (7. vomitoria, Ait.), 
frequent in low woods from Virginia to Florida and 
Texas. It is a shrub, or sometimes a modest tree, 
with small, evergreen leaves which are elliptic in 

162 



liEVEHA(;E PLANTS 

shape and notched around the edge, and in autunin 
the branches are prettily studded with red berries 
about the size of peas. An analysis of the dried 




Cassena 
(Ilex vomitoriaj 



leaves reveals a small percentage (one-quarter of 
one per cent.) of caffeine, about half the quantity of 
the same alkaloid that is contained in the leaves of 

163 



USEFUL WILD PLANTS 

mate {Ilex Paraguay ensis) . The leaves were cus- 
tomarily toasted, thoroughly boiled in water, and 
then cooled by pouring rapidly from one vessel to 
another and back again, which also developed f rothi- 
ness. The liquid is, as the name indicates, of a black 
color, and is quite bitter. Dr. E. M. Hale, who made 
a special study of the subject and had the results 
published by the United States Department of Agri- 
culture ^ a number of years ago, pronounced it a not 
unpleasant beverage, for which a liking might read- 
ily be acquired as for mate, tea or coffee — in fact 
somewhat suggesting in taste an inferior grade of 
black tea. When very strong from long boiling, it 
will act as an emetic — a consummation lightly re- 
garded by the Indians, who merely drank again. 

Two other species of Ilex growing wild throughout 
a greater part of the length of our Atlantic seaboard 
possess leaves that have been similarly used as sub- 
stitutes for Chinese tea. One is I. glabra, Gray, 
popularly known as Inkberry, a rather low-growing 
shrub of sandy soils near the coast, with shiny, 
wedge-shaped, evergreen leaves, and ink-black ber- 
ries; the other, 7. verticillata, Gray, a much taller 
shrub, with deciduous foliage, and bright red berries 
clustered around the stems and persisting in winter. 

3 Bulletin 14, Division of Botany. 

164 



BEVERAGE PLANTS 

The latter species is called in common speech Black 
Alder or Winter-berry, and frequents swampy 
ground as far west as the Mississippi, 

The spicy, aromatic inner bark and young twigs 
of the Sweet or Cherry Birch {Betida lenta, L.) also 
deserve mention, as the basis of that old-time domes- 
tic brew, birch beer. The characteristic flavor is due 
to an oil like that distilled from Wintergreen {Gaul- 
fheria procumbens). This species of birch is a 
graceful forest tree with leaves and bark suggesting 
a cherry, and is of frequent occurrence in rich wood- 
lands of the Atlantic seaboard States. The sap is 
sweet, like the Sugar Maple's, and may be similarly 
gathered and boiled down into a sugar. The nearly 
related Eiver Birch (Betula nigra, L.), a denizen of 
low grounds and streamsides throughout much of 
the eastern United States, particularly southward, 
is a potential fountain in early spring when the sap 
is running. At that season, if you stab the trunk 
with a knife, stick into the cut a splinter to act as a 
spout, then set a cup beneath to catch the drippings, 
you will have shortly a draught as clear and cool as 
spring water, with an added suggestion of sugar. 
The tree is distinguished by slender, drooping 
branches, w^hich sleet storms in Avinter sometimes 
badly shatter and break. From such untended 

165 



USEFUL WILD PLANTS 

wounds, hundreds in number, the sap later on will 
drop pattering to the ground; and I have stepped 
from bright sunshine on a March day into the shadow 
of one of these trees and been sprinkled by the 
descending spray as by a shower of rain. 



166 



CHAPTER YIU 
VEGETABLE SUBSTITUTES FOR SOAP 

To soothe and cleanse, not madden and pollute. 

Wordsworth. 

AMONG the pleasant pictures of my mental gal- 
lery is one of an autumn evening at a Pueblo 
Indian village in New Mexico, where I chanced to be 
a few years ago. The sun was near setting, seeking 
his nightly lodging in the home of his mother, who, 
according to the ancient Indian idea, lives in the 
hidden regions of the west; on the house-tops the 
corn buskers were gathering into baskets the multi- 
colored ears that represented the daj^'s labor; along 
the trail from the well some laughing girls were 
filing, with dripping jars of water on their heads; 
the village flocks, home from the plain, were crowd- 
ing bleating into corrals ; and from open doors came 
the steady hum of metates, the fragrance of grinding 
corn, and the shrill music of the women's mealing 
songs. Then up the street came pattering a couple 
of burros loaded with fire-wood and driven by an 

167 



USEFUL WILD PLANTS 

old Indian man. Immediately three or four women 
appeared at house doors and called inquiringly 
^'amoIeV^ The old man halted his donkeys, lifted 
from one a sack, out of which he drew several pieces 
of thick, blackish root, which he distributed impar- 
tially among the women, and then proceeded on his 
way. The root, it transpired, was a sort of vegetable 
soap and answered to that strange word of the 
women, amole. This, in fact, is the name current 
throughout our Spanish Southwest for several com- 
mon wild plants indigenous to that region, and rich 
enough in saponin to furnish in their roots a natural 
and satisfactory substitute for commercial soap. 
Several are species of the familiar Yucca — in 
particular Y . baccafa, Y. angustifolia and Y. glauca. 
Americans who prefer their own names for things 
call them soap-root, when they do not say Spanish 
bayonet, or Adam's Thread-and-Needle or just 
Yucca. All three species mentioned have large, 
thick rootstocks firmly and deeply seated in the earth, 
so that a pick or crow-bar is needed to uproot them. 
Before the white traders introduced the sale of com- 
mercial soap, amole was universally used by Mexi- 
cans and Indians for washing purposes, and the 
practice is not yet obsolete by any means. The 
rootstock is broken up into convenient sizes and 

168 



VEGETABLE SUBSTITUTES FOR SOAP 

washed free from any adhering dirt and grit. Then, 
when needed, a piece is mashed with a stone or 
hammer, dropped into a vessel containing water, 
cold or warm, and nibbed vigorously up and down 
until an abundant lather results— and this comes 
very quickly. After dipping out the fibre and 
broken fragments, the suds are ready for use. They 
answer every purpose of soap, and are particularly 
agreeable in their effect upon the skin, leaving it 
soft and comfortable. A shampoo of amole is, 
among the long-haired Southwestern Indians, not 
only a luxury but a prescribed preliminary to cere- 
monies of the native religious systems. Even whites 
recognize the efficacy of the root, and an American 
manufacturer in the Middle West has for years been 
making a toilet soap with the rootstock of Yucca 
haccata as a basis. It is put upon the market under 
the name of Amole Soap. 

Certain species of Agave, that is, the Century 
Plant fraternity, are frequent along the Mexican 
border and contain saponin in greater or less quan- 
tity, affording a soap substitute as do the Yuccas. 
Best known, perhaps, is the species that Spanish- 
speaking residents call lechuguilla (botanically. 
Agave lechuguilla, Torr.). This is distinguished by 
a cluster of radical, yellowish-green, spine-tipped, 

169 



USEFUL WILD PLANTS 

fleshy leaves, few in number (rarely over fifteen) and 
barely a foot long, the flowers borne in a close panicle 
almost like a spike. The short trunk of the plant is, 
I believe, the p>art usually used for soap; but Dr. 
J. N. Rose, in his ''Notes on Useful Plants of 
Mexico," quotes llavard as authority for the state- 
ment that saponin is found in the leaves of this 
species. The rootstock of a related Texan species 
(A. varicgaia, Jacobi) is also soapy, and the paper 
by Dr. Rose just mentioned quotes a statement by 
a resident of Brownsville, Texas, to the eflFect that a 
piece of the rootstock of the latter species as big 
as a walnut, grated and mixed with a quart of 
warm water, will clean a whole suit of clothes. The 
most used Agave-amoles, however, are plants of 
Mexico, the discussion of which would not be perti- 
nent here. 

Of wide occurrence in California is an amole of 
quite a different appearance. It is the bulbous root 
of a plant of the Lily family, by botanists fearfully 
and wonderfully called Clilorogaliim pomeridianum, 
Kunth. The average American simplifies this into 
California Soap-plant. Its first appearance is 
shortly after the winter i-ains set in, and for several 
niontlis all that one sees of it is a cluster of stemless, 
grass-like, crinkly leaves, lolling weakly on the 

170 




California Soap-plaxt 
(Chlorogahim pomeridianum) 



171 




Caj.iforxia Soap-plant 
(Chlorogaliim pomeridianum) 



172 



VEGETABLE SUBSTITUTES FOR SOAP 

ground. Late in the spring, a slender flower stalk 
puts up and at the height of four or five feet breaks 
into a widely spreading panicle of white, lily-like 
but small blossoms, that open a few at a time at 
evening, shine like stars through the night and 
wither away the next morning. To the economist 
the most interesting part of the plant is subter- 
ranean. This is a bottle-shaped bulb, rather deep 
set in the ground, and thickly clad in a coat of 
coarse, brown fibre. When this fibre is stripped off, 
a moist heart is disclosed an inch or two in diameter 
and about twice as long. Crush this, rub it up 
briskly in water, and a lather results as in the case 
of Yucca and quite as efficacious for cleansing. In- 
deed, the absence of alkali — an absence that is a 
characteristic of the amoles — makes the suds es- 
pecially valuable for washing delicate fabrics. Some 
users of this California amole prefer first to rub 
the crushed bulb directly upon the material to be 
washed, just as one would do with a cake of soap, 
and then manipulate the article in the clear water. 
The lather is said to be also useful for removing 
dandruff. However that may be, it unquestionably 
makes an excellent shampoo and leaves the hair soft 
and glossy. The bulbs may be used either fresh or 
after having been kept dry for months. Our knowl- 

173 



USEFUL WILD PLANTS 

edge of the cleansing property resident in this bulb 
is a gift from the California Indian, who, in spite of 
the popular notion to the contrary, has a taste — 
though not an extravagant taste — for cleanliness. 

Another well-known California soap plant is a 
species of Pig-weed {Chenopodium Calif ornicum, 
Wats.), abundant throughout much of the State in 
arroyos and on moist hillsides. It is a stout, weedy- 
looking herb, with inconspicuous, greenish flowers 
in slender, terminal spikes, and toothed, triangular 
leaves turning yellow and dying as the dry season 
advances. The stout stems, a foot or two high, grow 
numerously from the crown of a very deep-seated, 
spindle-shaped root which is at times a foot long 
and requires industrious digging to lift it from its 
earthy bed. While fresh it is rather brittle and 
readily crushed with a hammer, when, if agitated in 
water, it quickly communicates a soapy frothiness 
to the liquid, and is cleansing like the other suds 
noted. The roots may be laid away for use when 
dry, in which state they are as hard almost as stone, 
and require to be grated or ground in a handmill 
before using. The saponaceous property in this root 
was also discovered first by the Indians.^ 

1 The roots of the Southern Buckeye or Horsechestnut (Aesculus 
Pavia, L.) are rich in saponin, and Dr. Porcher states that their 

174 





A Pacific Coast soap plant {Chlorogaluui pomcridianuni). 
The bulb, stripped of its fibrous covering, is highly saponaceous. 
The fiber is useful for making coarse brushes and mattresses. 




Tunas, fruit of a Southwestern cactus — Showing how it is 
opened to secure the meaty pulp. (See page 109.) 



VEGETABLE SUBSTITUTES FOR SOAP 

The soap plants thus far named must, from the 
nature of the ease, suffer extermination in the 
fulfilling of their mission, but there are others in- 
digenous to the United States that need not be killed 
to serve. First among these may be mentioned the 
genus Ceanothus, one species of which — the New 
Jersey Tea — has already claimed attention in the 
chapter on Beverage Plants. The genus comprises 
about thirty-five species, nearly all shrubs or small 
trees confined to the western United States and 
northern Mexico. They are particularly abundant 
on the Pacific Coast, and are popularly known as 
**wild lilac" and ''myrtle" (one or two species as 
''buck brush"). They are frequently an important 
element in the chaparral cover of the mountain 
sides, and in the spring their flowers create beautiful 
effects in such situations, farming unbroken sheets 
of white or blue, acres in extent. The fresh blossoms 
of many species — perhaps of most or even all — are 
saponaceous, and rubbed in water produce a cleans- 
ing lather that is a good substitute for toilet soap. 
Care must be exercised, however, to pick off any 
green footstalks that cling to the flowers, as these 

suds are preferable to commercial soap for washing and whitening 
woolens, blankets and dyed cottons, the colors of which are improved 
by the process. 

175 



USEFUL WILD PLANTS 

tend to give the suds a greenish tinge and a weedy- 
smell. This floral soap is not only perfectly cleans- 
ing but leaves the skin soft and faintly fragrant. 
It is a poetic sort of ablution, this bathing with a 
handful of snowy blossoms plucked from a bush and 
a little water dipped out of the brook, and revives 
our faith in the Golden Age, when Nature's friendly 
outstretched hand was less lightly regarded than 
nowadays. Similiarly of use are the fresh, green 
seed-vessels, though these often have a resinous 
coating that is apt to cause a yellowish stain, if the 
rinsing is not perfect. 

The cherished Balloon vine of our gardens does not 
include soapiness among its charms, but it can at 
least claim cousinship with some of the world's most 
famous soap plants — namely, certain species of the 
genus Sapindus, trees or shrubs native to the warmer 
regions of both hemispheres. The name Sapindus 
means "soap of the Indies," where, as well as in 
China and Japan, several species have been drawn 
upon for detergent material from very early times, 
and are still in favor for washing the hair and deli- 
cate goods, such as silk. Within the limits of the 
United States, three species are indigenous: Sap- 
indus saponaria, L., abundant from Brazil to the 
West Indies, finds a lodgment on the extreme soutii- 

176 



VEGETABLE SUBSTITUTES FOR SOAP 

em tip of Florida, and besides its soapy possibilities 
possesses seeds, hard and black, that serve for beads 
and buttons; S. marginatus, Willd., an evergreen 
tree sometimes sixty feet in height, occurs along our 
southern Atlantic seaboard from the Carolinas to 
Florida; S. Drummondii, II. & A., ranges from 
Kansas to Louisiana and westward to Arizona, and 
is known to Americans as Soap-berry or Wild China 
tree,- and to the Spanish-speaking people as jahon- 
cillo (little soap). All three species are trees with 
pinnate leaves (non-deciduous in the first two) and 
small, white flowers borne in terminal panicles; and 
all produce fleshy berries about the size of cherries 
and containing one or two seeds. It is in these 
berries that the soapy property dwells, and this is 
readily communicated to water in which the berries 
are rubbed up. In the case of S. Drummondii, the 
clusters of yellow berries (turning black as they 
dry) are a conspicuous feature of the bare winter 
branches, for it is their habit to persist on the trees 
until spring. 

Also of the West is a species of gourd occurring 
in dry soil from Nebraska to Mexico and westward 
to the Pacific. In some sections it is known as 

2 From its resemblance to the true China tree ( Melia Azedarach ) , 
extensively planted for ornament and shade in the Southern Statea. 

177 




Soap-beery 
(Sapindus marginatusj 



178 



VEGETABLE SUBSTITUTES FOR SOAP 

Missouri Gourd and in California as Mock Orange. 
Botanically it is Cucurbita foetidissima, HBK, and 
the rank, garlicky odor given off by the crushed 
leaves makes the specific appellation very apropos. 
It is a coarse, creeping vine with solitary, showy, 
yellow flowers and robust, triangular leaves that 
have a fashion of standing upright in hot weather, 
like ears ; and it spreads so industriously that at the 
summer's end its tip may be as much as twenty-five 
feet away from the starting point, which is the crown 
of a deep-seated, woody, perennial root shaped like 
a carrot. In the autumn the shriveling leaves reveal 
numerous, round, yellow gourds, which conspicu- 
ously dot the ground and are likely at first glance 
to deceive one into thinking them spilled oranges — a 
fact that accounts for one popular name. These 
gourds are pithy, but such pulp as they contain, as 
well as in the roots, is saponaceous, and crushed in 
water both fruit and root yield a cleansing lather. 
It is, however, apt to leave the skin with a harsh 
feeling for a few moments, not altogether pleasant. 
There appears to be saponin in the vine also, since 
Doctor Edward Palmer has stated that in northern 
Mexico a Cucurbita, that is undoubtedly this species, 
has been extensively used by laundresses who mash 
up the vines with the gourds and add all to their 

179 




■gA 



Missouri Gourd 

(Cucurbita foetidissima) 



180 



VEGETABLE SUBSTITUTES FOR SOAP 

wash water. To wear iinder-elotlies thus washed, 
one must be indiiferent to the prickles of the rough 
hairs and broken fibre that are of necessity mingled 
with the water. Among the SpanivSh-speaking 
people of the Southwest, this gourd goes by the 
name CalahasiUa. In old plants the root is some- 
times six feet long and five or six inches in diameter. 
This, descending perpendicularly into the earth, 
enables the plant to reach moisture in arid wastes 
where shallow-rooted plants would perish. The 
dried gourds, it may be added, may be very conven- 
iently used as darning-balls. 

Probably the most widely known of all our Ameri- 
can soap plants — though not all who know the plant 
are aware that it bears soap in its gift — is an herb 
of the Pink family that used to have a corner in 
many old-fashioned gardens under the name of 
Bouncing Bet {Saponaria officinalis, L.). It is a 
smooth, buxom sort of plant with stems a foot or 
two tall and noticeably swollen at the joints, oval, 
ribbed leaves set opposite to each other in two's, and 
dense clusters of white or pink 5-petaled flowers. It 
is not a native-born American, but came hither from 
Europe early in the white immigration and has now 
become naturalized in many parts of the country 
near the settlements of men, where it is often so 

181 



USEFUL WILD PLANTS 

common as to be classed as a weed. The juice of 
the roots is mucilaginous and soapy, producing a 




Bouncing Bet 
(iSaponaria o/ficinaHs) 

lather when agitated in water, and the peasantry 
in some parts of Europe use it to-day for soap. By 
the brothers in European monasteries, centuries ago, 

182 



VEGETABLE SUBSTITUTES FOR SOAP 

its virtue as a capital cleansing agent was well un- 
derstood, and they employed it for scouring cloth 
and removing stains. They gave it, in monkish 
fashion, a Latin name, herba fidlonum, which in 
English translation. Fuller's herb, is sometimes still 
assigned it in books; but in every-day speech the 
rustic English name, Soapwort, is more usual. In 
our Southern States a pretty local name that has 
come to my notice is "My Lady's Wash-bowl." It 
was in a Saponaria, I believe, that the glucoside 
saponin — the detergent principle of the soap plants 
— was first discovered and given its name. That 
was about a century ago, and since then chemists 
have identified the same substance existing in vary- 
ing degrees in several hundred species throughout 
the w^orld.^ In most plants, however, the quantity 
is too small to make a serviceable lather. 

3 N. Kruskal. "Soaps of the Vegetable Kingdom," in "The 
Pharmaceutical Era," Vol. XXXI, Nos. 13, 14. 



183 



CHAPTER IX 

SOME MEDICINAL WILDINGS WORTH 
KNOWING 

Romeo. Your plantain leaf is excellent for that. 
Benvolio. For what, I pray thee? 
Romeo. For your broken shin. 

Romeo and Juliet. 

THE subject of medicinal plants is one that I 
approach with considerable reluctance; be- 
cause, though the employment of wild herbs as reme- 
dies has been a cherished practice with sick humanity 
whether savage or civilized from the earliest times, 
there exists still great diversity of opinion about 
the efficacy of particular simples. One has only to 
thumb over any ancient herbal or old botanical 
manual or the succeeding editions of pharmacopoeias 
to notice the decline and fall of one popular medicinal 
plant after another with the progress of the years, 
and so to become rather skeptical about the whole 
subject. Nevertheless, it is a poor chaff-pile that 
does not hold some kernels of pure grain; and this 
chapter, without professing to trench upon the prov- 

184 



SOME MEDICINAL WILDINGS 

ince of the chemist who distils and extracts a 
multitude of medicines from the herbs of the field, 
will call attention to a few of those plants growing 
wild whose reputation for the relief of some simple 
disorders appears well grounded. At any rate they 
are harmless. 

Such medicinal wildings may be classed under two 
principal heads: those occurring also in Europe or 
Asia, or naturalized here from the Old World, their 
uses therefore being part of the white race's tra- 
ditional knowledge ; and those indigenous plants that 
found place in the medical practice of the Indians, 
from whom we have got a hint of their value. 

In the former class one of the best known is 
Yarrow or Milfoil {Achillea Millefolium, L.), a per- 
ennial herb a foot or two high, of the Composite 
family, with flat-topped clusters of small, usually 
white-rayed flower-heads, and finely dissected leaves. 
It is found throughout the United States and much 
of Canada in various soils and situations, and was 
said by Fremont to be one of the commonest of plants 
observed during the whole of one of his transconti- 
nental journeys. The entire plant above ground 
may be dried and an infusion of it (a pint of boiling 
water poured upon a handful) may be administered 
for a run-dowTi condition or a disordered digestion, 

185 



USEFUL WILD PLANTS 

the action being that of a mildly stimulating bitter 
tonic. The familiar Hoar-hound [Marrubium vul- 
gar e, L,), originally introduced from Europe for a 
garden herb in the Atlantic States, has long since 
taken out naturalization papers as an American, and 
is now found wild across the continent and from 
Maine to Texas. It is a somewhat bushy perennial 
of the Mint family, with square, white-woolly stems, 
grayish, roundish leaves prominently veined and 
wrinkled, and small, white flowers densely clustered 
in the leaf axils. The calyx of the flower is provided 
with ten short teeth hooked at the tips, which catch 
readily in the coats of passing animals or people's 
clothing, facilitating the spread of the plant. The 
dried herb is tonic and a bitter tea made of it is a 
time-honored household remedy for debility and 
colds, being expectorant and promotive of perspira- 
tion. In large doses it proves laxative. 

Apropos of laxatives, an indigenous wild plant 
that has been popularly esteemed in this regard and 
whose value was detected because of the herb's rela- 
tionship to the famous Senna of the Old World, is 
Cassia Marylandica, L., commonly known as Wild 
or American Senna. The leaves, collected upon the 
maturing of the seeds, and dried, used to be among 
the offerings of the Shaker herbalists. An infusion 

186 



I 



SOME MEDICINAL WILDINGS 

of them may be made in the proportion of about an 
ounce of the leaves to a pint of boilino; water — the 
dose, two or three fluid ounces of the liquid, repeated 




Wild Sexna 
(Cassia Marylandica) 

if needful. The American plant contains the same 
general principles as the Old World species but in 
less proportion, and is correspondingly less active. 
It is a stout, herbaceous perennial, three to eight 

187 




1 



Wild Senna 
(Cassia Marylandica) 



188 



SOME MEDICINAL WILDINGS 

feet high, bearing pinnate leaves and showy racemes 
of yellow flowers in the upper leaf-axils, followed 
in autumn by long, curved pods or legumes, and 
occurs in damp ground and swamps from the Missis- 
sippi Valley to the Atlantic ; and from the Canadian 
border to the Gulf. 

Another plant which, although indigenous, I be- 
lieve, only to America, is so near akin to a popular 
tonic herb of Europe that its use may have first been 
suggested by the resemblance, is Boneset {Eiipa- 
torium perfoliatimi, L.). This is a stout, hairy per- 
ennial of the Composite tribe, with rather narrow, 
pointed, wrinkled leaves opposite in pairs upon the 
stem and united around it at the base, so as to make 
each pair present the appearance of one long leaf 
skewered through the middle; whence another com- 
mon name for the plant, Thoroughwort. The large 
clusters of white flower-heads are rayless. The 
leaves and flowering tops are dried, and a bitter tea 
is made of them. Taken cold, this is tonic and 
stimulating in small doses and laxative in large ones. 
The hot infusion is an old-time remedy for a fresh 
cold or sore throat, and may be taken during the 
cold stage of malarial fever. The plant is common 
in low meadows and damp grounds throughout the 
eastern United States and Canada. 

189 



USEFUL WILD PLANTS 







BONESET 

(Eupatorium perfoliatum) 

And of course every holder to the old traditions 
is loyal to Wild Cherry bark. This is taken from 
the familiar Wild Cherry tree {Primus serotina, 
Ehrh.), growing along streams and fence-rows and in 

190 



SOME MEDICINAL WILDINGS 

woods from eastern Canada to Texas. It is from 
forty to eighty feet high and identifiable by its shiny 
green leaves (too often a prey to caterpillars) and 




Wild Cherry 
(Prunus serotinaj 

its close racemes of small white flowers succeeded 
by small, black, juicy, flattened fruit with a bitter 
but vinous flavor. An infusion of the dried bark 

191 



USEFUL WILD PLANTS 

(gathered preferably in the autumn) in cold water, 
in the proportion of one-half ounce of bark to a pint 
of water, enjoys a reputation both as a mild sedative 
suited to cases of nervous excitability and as a tonic 
adapted to debility and impaired digestion. Also 
of popular esteem as a stimulant to digestion and a 
remedy for dysjDeptic conditions is the root of the 
Sweet-flag or Calamus {Acorus Calamus, L.). This 
plant is a denizen of swamps and stream borders 
throughout the eastern United States, usually grow- 
ing directly in the water and often in company with 
cat-tails. Its erect, sword-like leaves, three to four 
feet tall, are pleasantly aromatic, and this fragrance 
serves to distinguish the plant, when out of flower, 
from the somewhat similar-looking Blue-flag or Iris, 
whose roots are reputed to be poisonous. The 
Sweet-flag belongs to the Arum family, and its flow- 
ering is as curious as inconspicuous, being produced 
as a compact, greenish spike from the side of a stalk, 
the interior of which is sweet. The rootstock, dug 
in the autumn or spring, washed and then dried, 
is chewed as a stomachic. The unpeeled root is more 
efficacious than the peeled. 

It was the popularity of the Old World Pennyroyal 
doubtless that first caused attention to be directed 
to a little minty annual common in dry soil and old 

192 



SOME MEDICINAL WILDINGS 



fields pretty much throughout the United States east 
of the Mississippi and called American Pennyroyal 
{Hedeoma pulegioides, Pers.)- It is pungently aro- 
matic, from a few inches to a foot tall, with small, 
opposite leaves nar- 
rowing to the base 
and tiny, bluish flow- 
ers clustered in the 
upper leaf-axils. 
The plant contains a 
volatile oil, and a hot 
infusion of the dried 
leaves and flowering 
tops is an old-fash- 
ioned remedy for flat- 
ulent colic, sick stom- 
ach and bowel com- 
plaints. Then there 
is the nearly related 
Dittany {Cunila Mar- 
iana, L), growing on 
dry woodland hills from New York to Florida, a 
perennial plant of about the height of the American 
Pennyroyal, but with larger leaves, rounded at the 
base and conspicuously clear-dotted. The herb is 
gently stimulant, and a tea made of it is a pleasant 

193 




Dittany 
(Cunila Mariana) 



USEFUL WILD PLANTS 

and refreshing beverage that is sudorific and has a 
respectable place among the rural remedies for feb- 
rile conditions. Dr. Porcher quoted an old-time 
South Carolinian as saying that ''everybody cured 
everything with dittany." 

The plants whose seeds, crushed to a flour and 
sifted, constitute the mustard of commerce and mus- 
tard plasters, are principally two, both of which, 
though native to the Old World, are found abun- 
dantly growing wild within our limits. The 
more common is Black Mustard {Brassica nigra, 
L.), occupying roadsides, fields and waste land on 
both sides of our continent. It is a stout, much- 
branched herb, with coarse, deeply lobed basal 
leaves, and varies in height from two to twelve or 
fifteen feet. Its most robust development in this 
country is on the Pacific coast, where in the spring 
its showy racemes of yellow flowers make solid sheets 
of color on the plains and mesas, acre upon acre, to 
the delight of tourists and the disgust of the land- 
owners. In Syria it attains similar proportions and 
is believed to be the mustard of the gospel parable. 
The other Mustard plant is the closely related Bras- 
sica alha, (L.) Boiss., popularly known as White 
Mustard. It is rarely over two feet high, and is 
distinguished from its black cousin by hairiness of 

194 



SOME MEDICINAL WILDINGS 

stem and seed pod, the latter usually constricted 
between the seeds. 

Among a considerable portion of our population 
the Indians have enjoyed from very early times a 
reputation for special knowledge in the remedial 
properties of wild plants; but doubtless they have 
been credited much in excess of their deserts. 
Nevertheless, there are some of the aboriginal reme- 
dies worthy of all respect. Prominent among them 
are two or three plants of the Pacific Coast. One 
of these seems first to have been brought to light 
through the contact of the Franciscan missionaries 
of the eighteenth century with the Indians of South- 
ern California, and is still quite generally known by 
its Spanish name, Cascara sagrada, that is '^ sacred 
bark." It is a shrub or small tree of the genus 
Rkamnus, with somew^hat elliptic, prominently 
veined leaves, abundant clusters of tiny yellowish 
flowers in spring succeeded in the autumn by a con- 
spicuous crop of inedible berries turning yellowish- 
crimson and finally black. The plant is considered 
by some botanists as of one variable species {Rkam- 
nus Calif ornica, Esch.), and by others as of two — the 
name R. Purshiana, DC, being applied to the arbo- 
real form, which is common through the northern 
coast regions as far as British Columbia and east- 

195 




I 



Cascara sagrada 
(Rhamnus California) 



196 



SOME MEDICINAL WILDINGS 

ward to the Rockies, attaining a height at times of 
thirty feet or so, with a trunk a foot in diameter. In 
that region it goes by a number of names as Chittem- 
wood, Wahoo and Bitter-bark, Other local names 
are Pigeon-berry and Wild Coffee — the latter be- 
cause of some superficial resemblance of the seeds 
to coffee beans. The shrubby form, common in 
Southern California and the Great Basin region, is 
from a few to' a dozen feet high, forming usually a 
dense clump touching the ground. 

The medicinal value of the Cascara sagrada is in 
the bark, which is regarded as one of the safest and 
best laxatives in the world, especially valuable in 
cases of chronic constipation. It acts, at the same 
time, as a tonic and tends to improve the appetite. 
For the best results the bark should be collected in 
the autumn or early spring and at least a year before 
being used. A small piece of the bark put into a 
glass of cold water and allowed to soak over night 
makes a useful tonic, drunk first thing in the morn- 
ing. For a laxative, hot water should be poured 
upon the bark in- the proportion of a teacupful to a 
level teaspoonful of the finely broken bark, set away 
to cool, and drunk just before bed-time. Country 
people have told me that the fresh bark boiled sev- 
eral hours is equally efficacious. The gathering of 

197 



USEFUL WILD PLANTS 

Cascara sagrada foi' the medical trade is an im- 
portant minor industry in tlie Pacific Northwest, the 
bark of the Purshiana or arboreal form being the 
kind preferred. There is a considerable European 
demand for it, as well as from American chemists. 

Another of the famous Pacific Coast remedies is 
Yerba Santa, whose Spanish name (meaning "holy 
herb") also betrays its connection with the Cali- 
fornia Mission days, when the Padres not only 
instructed Indians but now and then learned some- 
thing from them. An American common name for 
the plant — Consumptive's Weed^ — indicates one of 
its popular uses. It has, in fact, been esteemed for 
generations in California as an expectorant, a blood 
purifier, and a tonic — a standby in all bronchial and 
respiratory troubles. Botanically it is Eriodictyon 
glutinosimi, Benth., and is a shrubby plant, three to 
seven feet high, with dark green, resinous leaves 
(shaped somewhat like those of the peach) glutinous 
and shining on the upper side and whitish under- 
neath, the flowers tubular, clustered and usually 
purple but sometimes white. It is abundant on dry 
hillsides and among the chaparral throughout much 
of California and southward into Mexico. A bitter 

1 others are Mountain Balm, Gum Leaves, Bear's-weed and Wild 
Peach. 

198 




Yerba Santa 
(Eriodictyon glutinosumj 



199 



USEFUL WILD PLANTS 

tea is made of the dried leaves and taken freely; or 
it may be prepared by boiling with sugar, if it is 
desired to disguise the bitterness. The pounded 
leaves have also been used as a poultice, bound upon 
sores. 

The civilized drug Grindelia is derived from 
certain species of a botanic genus of that name be- 
longing to the Sunflower family and occurring 
rather abundantly on the plains and dry hillsides 
west of the Mississippi. They are coarse, sticky 
plants, characterized by white, gummy exudations 
upon the buds and flower heads (these latter are 
conspicuously yellow-rayed) and are popularly 
called, on that account. Gum-plants. The California 
Indians are credited with being the pioneers in dis- 
covering the remedial secret of these plants, the 
species most used by them being apparently Grin- 
delia rohusta, Nutt. A decoction of the leaves and 
flowering tops collected during the early period of 
bloom is a mild stomachic, and is taken to purify 
the blood, as well as to relieve throat and lung 
troubles. 

The Indian is also to be thanked for our knowl- 
edge of Yerba Mansa (or more correctly, Yerba del 
Manso, ''the herb of the tamed Indian"), common 
in wet, alkaline soil throughout much of the South- 

200 




Yekba Mans a 
( Anemops is Va lifotnica ) 



201 



USE.FUL WILD PLANTS 

west — a low-growing perennial, carpeting the ground 
with its dock-like leaves and starred in spring with 
conical spikes of small, greenish florets, subtended 
by showy involucres of white bracts. It is the 
botanists' Anemopsis Calif oniica, H. & A. The pep- 
pery, aromatic root is astringent, and is chewed 
raw, after drying, for affections of the mucous 
membrane, and also made into a tea for purifying 
the blood. It is one of the most popular of remedies 
among the Mexican population, who employ it also to 
relieve coughs and indigestion or pretty much any- 
thing. As an external remedy for cuts, bruises and 
sores on man or beast, either the tea or a poultice 
of the wilted leaves is employed. 

For external use in such cases, two other western 
plants are valuable, particularly for the healing of 
that bane of the horseman, the saddle gall. One is 
an ill-smelling shrub of the Southwestern desert 
region variously called Creosote-bush, Greasewood 
(one of many Grease woods, by the way) and, by its 
Spanish names, Gobernadora and Hediondilla. 
Botanically, it is Larrea Mexicana, Moric, or, ac- 
cording to other nomenclaturists, Covillea tridentata, 
(DC.) Vail. It is distinguished by curious little 
evergreen leaves each consisting of two pointed, 
sticky leaflets, yellow 5-petaled flowers, the petals 

202 



SOME MEDICINAL WILDINGS 

set edgewise to the light, and round silky seed- 
vessels like fluffy white pellets. The branches are 
banded at intervals in black. It grows in the arid- 
est of soils, from Southern California eastward 




CBEOSOTE-nUSH 

(Larrea Mexicoma) 



across Arizona and southward into Mexico. An 
antiseptic lotion may be made by steeping the twigs 
and leaves in boiling hot water, effective in the 
treatment of sores and wounds both of men and 

203 



USEFUL WILD PLANTS 

animals.2 The other plant referred to is Stachys 
Calif ornica, Benth., called Mastransia by the Mexi- 
cans, with whom it is a standard remedy. It is a 
hairy herb of the Mint tribe, a foot or two high, 
with rather small, purple, 2-lipped flowers and some- 
what triangular leaves rather wrinkled in texture, 
the whole plant quite distinctively odorous. It is 
found up and down the Pacific Coast in various 
situations, and varies more or less accordingly in 
its characters. Mr. J. Smeaton Chase, who has used 
it with signal success for saddle galls, tells me that 
the green plant, freshly gathered, is customarily em- 
ployed. An infusion of stem and leaves is made by 
soaking them for a few minutes in boiling water. 
This is applied as a wash to wounds or sores. The 
soaked leaves may also be bound upon the parts as 
a poultice. Stachys is a genus of wide distribution 
in both hemispheres, and in England certain species 
long ago gained repute as remedial agents, under 
the suggestive common name Woundwort. 

Patrons of quinine may find in our wild flora sub- 
stitutes by no means negligible, when their sup- 
ply of cinchona gives out. The most important are 

2 Mr. J. S. Chase, in liis recent book "California Desert Trails," 
states that a half inch or so of the stem of the Creosote-bush, peeled 
and held in the mouth like a pebble, is an Indian device for staving 
off thirst on desert journeys vk^hen water is scarce. 

204 




Flowering Dogwood (Cornits florida, L.) The bark is 
used in making a medicine similar to quinine, and that of the 
root produces a red dye used by the Indians. (See page 225.) 
(Courtesy of the Neiv York Botanical Gardens.) 



n 

^ 



J 



SOME xMEDICINAL WILDINGS 

certain shrubs or small trees of the Dogwood 
family, which has representatives on both sides of 
the continent. One of these is the well-knowii 
^'lowering Dogwood {Cornus fforida, L.), which 
beautifies spring woodlands with its showy white 
floral involucres from Canada to Florida and Texas. 
The bark is tonic, mildly stimulant and anti-inter- 
mittent, and many physicians have recognized its 
worth as a remedy in intermittent fevers, inferior 
only to Peruvian bark. A decoction is made of the 
dried bark of either the tree itself or the root, the 
latter being the stronger. (The fresh bark is said 
to be cathartic.) On the Pacific Coast from British 
Columbia to Southern California a kindred species is 
the Western Dogwood {Cornus Nuttallii, Aud.), 
which resembles in general appearance its eastern 
cousin. The bark is similarly useful. Townsend, 
in his journal of the AVyeth expedition to the Pacific 
Coast in the early days, tells of his curing two 
Oregon Indian children of fever-and-ague with this 
Dogwood, his supply of quinine being exhausted. 
He boiled the fresh bark in water and administered 
about a scruple a day. In three days his little 
patients were well. As he worked over the decoc- 
tion, the Indians crowded about him curiously, and 
"I took pains," he writes, "to explain the whole 

205 



USEFUL WILD PLANTS 

matter to them, in order that they might at a future 
time be enabled to make use of a valuable medicine 
which grows abundantly everywhere throughout the 
country. ' ' 

Closely related to the Dogwoods is a genus of 
shrubs called by botanists Garrya. Several species 
are indigenous to our Far West. They are ever- 
green with inconspicuous flowers, which are of two 
sexes borne on separate individuals in drooping, 
tassel-like clusters or catkins. Garrya elliptica, 
DougL, is a common shrub of the California chapar- 
ral, that has been considered ornamental enough to 
be introduced into gardens both in this country and 
abroad under the name '' Silk-tassel bush." Bark, 
leaves and fruit are exceedingly bitter. The in- 
herent principle seems to be the same as in the Dog- 
woods, and a decoction of bark or leaves has been 
similarly used for the relief of intermittent fevers. 
The shrub is known locally as Quinine-bush and 
Fever-bush.^ 

3 A multitude of wild plants have at various times and in all 
parts of our country had a place in popular favor as remedies 
more or less efficacious for the bite of venomous serpents. They 
are usually called, in common speech, Rattlesnake-weed, Rattlesnake- 
root, Rattlesnake-master, or among the Spanish-speaking people of 
the Southwest, Yerba de Vibora or (Jolondrina. Their real value, 
liowever, is so questionable that it seems hardly worth while to 
devote space here to their description. 

206 



SOME MEDICINAL WILDINGS 

Among Spanish Californians an herb of the 
Pacific Coast believed useful in fevers is Canchala- 
gua, or as the American-s call it Wild Quinine 
{Erytliraea venusta, Gray). It is of the Gentian 
family, whose characteristic bitterness it possesses; 
and is one of the most charming of western spring 
flowers, common on dry hillsides throughout much 
of California — the bright pink blossoms with a yel- 
low eye borne in terminal clusters upon plants a 
few inches to two feet high, with lance-shaped leaves 
in opposite pairs. Of the same family and some- 
what similar in appearance but with leaves clasping 
a quadrangular stem is the American Centaury 
{Sahhatia angularis, Pursh.), common on the Atlantic 
side of the continent from Canada to Florida. The 
dried herb is intensely bitter, and is popular among 
old-fashioned folk for its tonic properties. 

One of the most interesting plants of the Pacific 
Coast is a beautiful evergreen forest tree, known 
variously as California Bay, California Laurel, 
Pepperwood and Oregon Myrtle {Umbellularia Cal- 
if ornica [H. & A.] Nutt.). It is a member of the 
Laurel family (to which the Sassafras, the Old 
AVorld Bay and the Camphor-tree belong) and is 
characterized by a strong, pungent odor given off 
from the crushed leaves, somewhat suggesting bay 

207 




Canchalagua 

(Erythraea venusta) 



208 



SOME MEDICINAL WILDINGS 

rum. This peculiar aromatic quality of the leaf is 
diagnostic of the tree, but has the unpleasant effect 
of causing headache in some persons if inhaled too 
freely. The cause is a volatile oil resident in the 
leaf, which is popularly believed to be of medicinal 
value in several ways. A decoction of the fresh 
foliage is sometimes used as a disinfectant wash,* 
or, applied to the scalp, for headache. As a head- 
ache remedy, on the homeopathic principle, the 
Indians were accustomed to place a portion of a leaf 
in the nostril. A bath of hot water in which a 
quantity of the leaves has been thrown, followed 
by a thorough rubbing of the body, is a prescribed 
remedy for rheumatism said to have been efficacious 
in some cases. The aromatic vapor arising from 
the leaves boiling in w^ater and allowed to circulate 
through the house was a preventive measure em- 
ployed with faith by some people upon the Pacific 
Coast during the recent Spanish Influenza epidemic. 
The leaves appear to be also valuable for driving 
fleas away. 

4 Chesnut states tliat the oil of the k-af has an effect upon the 
skin comparable to that of camphor and menthol. I am indebted 
to his monograph, already quoted, for some of the facts given in 
this paragraph. 



209 



CHAPTER X 
MISCELLANEOUS USE'S OF WILD PLANTS 

mickle is the powerful grace that lies 
In plants, herbs, stones, and their true qualities ; 
For nought so vile that on the earth doth live 
But to the earth some special good doth give. 

Romeo and Juliet. 

IN the days before game laws came into being 
within the limits of the United States, several 
wild plants were employed for catching fish. I do 
not mean that they were used as bait, but in a very 
different way, long practised by the Indians. The 
plants in question contain in their juices narcotic 
poisons, which, stirred into the water of ponds, deep 
pools or running streams temporarily dammed, con- 
taining fish, stupefy the latter without killing them, 
and cause them to float inert to the surface, where 
they may be easily gathered into baskets. No ill ef- 
fects appear to result from eating fish so poisoned, 
and in old times in California there was ample chance 
to test the matter, as both white men and red were 

210 



MISCELLANEOUS USES 

prone to satisfy their appetite for fish in this 
manner. Such pot-hunting has now, however, for 
many years been forbidden by law. In California 
the bulbs of the Soap-plant {Chlorogalum pomeri- 
dianum, already described) were mostly used, being 
first crushed in quantity, thrown into the water, and 
mixed with it. Next to these in popularity were the 
macerated stems and leaves of the Turkey Mullein 
[Croton setigerus, Hook.), tbe Spanish-Calif or- 
nians' Yerha del pescado — that is, ''fish-weed." 
This plant is a rather low-spreading, bristly-hairy, 
grayish herb, with little greenish blossoms that are 
scarcely noticeable. It appears in the fields and 
plains of midsummer and remains through the 
autumn. Hunters of wild doves know it well, as 
these birds are very fond of the seeds and collect in 
numbers to feed where the ' ' mullein ' ' grows — to their 
undoing. Employed in the same way on the Atlantic 
seaboard were the seeds of the Southern or Red 
Buckeye {Aesculus Pavia, L.), a tree that occurs 
from Virginia to Florida and westward to the 
Mississippi Valley. According to Porcher, the fresh 
kernels were customarily macerated in water, mixed 
with wheat-flour to form a stiff paste, and thrown 
into pools of standing water. The dazed fish would 
float up to the top and had then only to be picked 

211 



USEFUL WILD PLANTS 



up. If placed in fresh water, they would soon re- 
vive. 

When they wanted to, Indians knew quite well 
where to go for material for fishing lines and nets 

— their knowledge of 
wild plants packed 
with useful fiber being 
rather extensive. 
One of the most 
widely distributed of 
these native fiber 
plants is the so-called 
Indian hemp {Apocy- 
num cannahinum, L.), 
an herbaceous peren- 
nial with a smooth, 
milky-juiced, woody 
stem two to four feet 
high, and inconspicu- 
ous, gre«nisli-white flowers producing very slender 
seed-pods about four inches long. It is found in 
thickets and dampish ground from Canada to 
Mexico and from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The 
usual preliminary preparation — as in the case of all 
the wild fiber-plants, I believe — was to rot the stems 
by soaking them in water. After that the outer 

212 




Indian Hemp 
(Apocynum cannabinumj 




Indian Hemp 
(Apocynum cannabmum) 



213 



USEFUL WILD PLANTS 

bark readily separates and leaves exposed a soft, 
long, brownish fiber which is both strong and last- 
ing. At one time some of the aborigines wove this 
into articles of clothing, but the -commoner use of it 
was in making fish- and carrying-nets, string and 
ropes. Peter Kalm speaks of the Swedes in the 
Delaware Eiver colonies a century and a half ago 
preferring such ropes to those of common hemp, and 
bought them from their Indian neighbors at the 
astonishing rate of "fourteen yards for a piece of 
bread!" 

The Indians of the lower Colorado River obtained 
a fiber suitable for fishing lines and nets from a 
legTiminous plant, Sesbania macrocarpa, MuhL, a tall 
annual, sometimes as much as twelve feet high, with 
pinnate leaves, yellowish, pea-like flowers purple- 
spotted, and very narrow, drooping seed-pods a foot 
long. It is commonly known as Wild Hemp, and 
grows in moist soil from South Carolina and Florida 
westward and along the Mexican border. On the 
Pacific Coast another plant of the Pea family that 
has entered into the weaving art of the Indians, is 
Psoralea macrostacliya, DC, a cousin of the famous 
Prairie-potato mentioned in an earlier chapter. It 
is a stout, heavy-scented perennial, three to twelve 
feet high, with leaves consisting of three leaflets, and 

214 



MISCELLANEOUS USES 

bearing in summer silkj- spikes of small, purplish 
flowers. Its favorite habitat is the borders of 
streams. Besides the inner bark, which is an excel- 
lent material for making coarse thread, the large 
root contains a valuable fiber. This the California 
Indians used to secure by pounding out the root. A 
pleasing feature of the fiber, whether of the root or 
the stem, is an aromatic perfume, which persists for 
months.^ Various species of Nettle, too, soaked in 
water, yield a fiber for cord making, as the Indians 
long since discovered. The Nettle, indeed, has been 
a primitive source of thread in both hemispheres; 
and Prior, in his "Popular Names of British 
Plants," quotes an old writer as saying, "Scotch 
cloth is only the housewifery of the nettle." 

Ajiother fairly good fiber, utilizable for twine and 
rope, has been secured from several species of 
Asclepias, the familiar Milkweeds. Among these 
may be mentioned especially the Swamp Milkweed 
{Asclepias incarnata, L.), with smooth stem and 
foliage, and red or rose-purple flowers. It is a 
frequent denizen of swampy land throughout the 
eastern half of the country from Canada to the Gulf. 
In the same class is a well-known woolly Milkweed 

1 Chesnut, "Plants Used by the Indians of Mendocino Co., Cali- 
fornia." 

215 



USEFUL WILD PLANTS 

of the Pacific Coast {A. eriocarpa, Benth.), char- 
acterized by cream-colored flowers and foUage 
clothed with a hoary hairiness. The conunonest 
Milkweed of eastern fields and waste places, A. 
Syriaca, L., yields a fiber that has been used to some 
extent in paper making, and for weaving into 
muslins. In fact, the white man's interest in all 
our wild fibers has been largely directed in latter 
times to their adaptability to adulterating and 
cheapening fabrics.^ 

The most important of all our native fiber plants 
are the Yuccas and Agaves. It is from Mexican 
species of the latter genus — and possibly of both 
genera — that the valuable Sisal-hemp, imported from 
Mexico, is made, with which our United States 
species have never successfully competed. Fiber 
from the Yucca (probably Y. baccata, Torr.) was in 
extensive use by the prehistoric people who built the 
cliff dwellings of the Southwest, as is proved by 
sandals, rope and cloth found in these remarkable 
ruins. According to the Zuni tradition it was from 
Yucca fibers that men made the first clothing for 

2 For many interesting details touching the general subject of 
wild fibers, reference is made to Reports 5 and 6, Office of Fiber In- 
vestigation, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture, entitled respectively "Leaf 
Fiber of the United States," and "Uncultivated Bast Fibers of the 
United States," by C. H. Dodge. 

216 



MISCELLANEOUS USES 

themselves when they emerged from the underworld 
(their first home) into this world of light. Though 
the spread -of white education among our aborigines 
has caused this ancient textile art to become almost 
a lost one, it is not entirely so. Here and there an 
old Indian is still run across who holds to the tradi- 
tions of the elders and works the ancient works. 
One such not long ago, living on the California 
desert, made me from the fiber of the Mescal plant 
{Agave deserti) a pair of sandals of immemorial 
pattern, the spongy sole an inch thick turned up at 
the heel, and with an elaborate arrangement of cords 
to keep the foot in place. 

Both Agave and Yucca are treated in the same 
manner to separate the fiber. After soaking the 
leaves in water to soften them, they are pounded 
and repeatedly rinsed until the pulpy part is dis- 
posed of. The fibers are then combed out, twisted 
into strands, and woven as desired. According to 
Dr. Palmer, the old-time Southern California 
weavers were famous for their Yucca fiber ropes, 
nets, hairbrushes and saddle blankets. In the last 
a padding of softer fiber obtained from the quiote 
{Yucca Whipplei) was employed to relieve the 
harshness of the Yucca haccata fiber.=^ The tough 

3 The American Naturalist, Sept., 1878. 

217 



USEFUL WILD PLANTS 

epidermis of Yucca leaves, split into narrow strips, 
makes a coarse basket material, serviceable more- 
over as a cord substitute for tying and jacketing 
articles to be hung up, as hams and watermelons. 
In the East the same may be done with the strong, 
fibrous bark of the Moose-wood or Leather-wood 
{Dirca palustris, L.), the hois de plomh of the 
French-Canadians. It is a deciduous shrub, two to 
six feet high, much branched and characterized by 
a tough bark, suggesting leather in its pliability, the 
pale greenish flowers preceding the leaves in small 
terminal fascicles in early spring. Damp woodlands 
are its favorite home, from Canada to the Gulf and 
eastward from the Mississippi to the Atlantic. 

A good string may also be made by twisting the 
fiber obtained from the common Reed-grass {Phrag- 
mites communis f Trin.), — the Carrizo of the South- 
west, — whose tall, straight canes crowned with silky, 
plume-like floral panicles, form a conspicuous 
feature in swamps and damp places throughout the 
United States and Canada, At a distance they 
present the general appearance of Broom-corn. A 
peculiarity of this reed that excited the curiosity 
of observant explorers half a century or so ago, 
was utilized by some of the Indian tribes to minister 
to their taste for sugar. Owing to the attacks of 

218 



MISCELLANEOUS USES 

a certain insect, which punctures the leafage, a pasty 
exudation is often to be found in abundance upon 
the plants. This, upon hardening into a gum, may 
be collected, and has a sweet, licorice-like taste. 
Palmer records a former practice of the Indians to 
cut the canes when the gum was sufficiently hardened, 
lay them in bundles upon blankets, and shake off 
the sweet particles. The sugar thus obtained was 
usually consumed by stirring it in water, making 
thus a sweet and nutritious drink. Coville speaks 
of a somewJiat different practice with the same plant 
by the Panamint Indians of the Mojave Desert, who 
would dry the entire reed, grind it and sift out the 
flour. This, which would be moist and sticky from 
the inherent sugar, would then be set near a fire 
until it would swell and brown, when it would be 
eaten like taffy .^ 

Another primitive sort of sugar harvest may be 
reaped in a small way from the common Milkweed 
{Asdeplas Syriaca). Kalm, among others, has 
noted this. The process as observed by him was to 
gather the flowers in the morning while the dew 
was on them. The dew, expressed and boiled, 
yielded a palatable brown sugar. Such a dainty 
sort of manufacture seems fitting enough in fairy 

♦ The American Anthropologist, Oct., 1892. 

219 



USEFUL WILD PLANTS 

economics; but it is hard to believe it to have been 
of much practical value among the rough pioneers 
from whom the old Swedish traveler learned of it. 
The Sugar Pine (Pinus Lambertiana, DougL), that 
noblest of Pacific Coast pines, owes its common name 
to a sugary exudation from the heart-wood when the 
tree has been cut into with an ax or been damaged 
by fire. The bleeding sap forms irregular lumps and 
nuggets, white when fresh and unstained, but more 
often found brown from exposure and contact with 
fire. John Muir thought this sugar the best of 
sweets. As to that, each must be his own judge; 
but it certainly has an appeal to many. Moderation 
should be exercised in its consumption, as it has a 
decided laxative tendency. Of all ''wild sugars," 
however, the sap of the Sugar Maple, the source 
of commercial maple sugar, is without a peer. It 
is too well known to call for more than mention 
here. 

Our wild plants that have been experimented upon 
for dyes by the color-loving Indians are very 
numerous. The subject is too technical for me to 
say just what value these various vegetable dyes 
may have in the arts of civilization, but I may refer 
briefly to a few. 

Imprimis, there is that familiar hedge-plant, the 

220 



1 



MISCELLANEOUS USES 

Osage Orange {Madura aurantiaca, Nutt.). Its 
native home is in the rich bottom-lands of a com- 
paratively narrow strip of territory extending from 
eastern Kansas and Missouri through Arkansas to 
Texas, attaining in all that region arboreal propor- 
tions. It is distinguished by its curious, yellowish- 
green, rough-skinned, milky, but inedible fruits, 
somewhat resembling half-ripe oranges. The large 
roots and the heartwood of the tree are bright orange 
in color, and from the former has been extracted a 
yellow dyestuff, which has been pronounced com- 
parable in excellence to fustic, the product of an 
allied tree of the tropics. The elastic, satiny wood 
was a favorite material for bows among the Indians,^ 
and the tree came to be known accordingly by the 
French-Louisianians as Bois d'arc. A curious use 
of the milky juice of the ''oranges" is recorded by 
Dr. James of the Long expedition, the members of 
which resorted to smearing themselves with it as a 
protection from the torment of wood-ticks. 

From Kentucky to North Carolina, the beautiful 
Kentucky Yellow-wood {Cladastris tinctoria, Raf.) 
is indigenous, a smooth-barked tree with pinnate 

5 "The price of a bow made from this wood, at the Aricaras', 
is a horse and blanket." John Bradbury's "Travels in the Interior 
of America." 1809-11. But the Aricaras lived a thousand miles 
from where the Osage Orange grows. 

221 



USEFUL WILD PLANTS 

leaves and showy panicles of fragrant, white, pea- 
like blossoms, pendent in June from the branch ends. 
It, too, has yellow wood, as the common name im- 
plies, and from it a clear saffron dye may be had. 
Better known is the Quercitron or Dyer's Oak 
(Bartram's Quercus tinctoria), which has played a 
part in international commerce. The inner bark, 
which is orange-colored, yields a fine yellow dye, and 
was once an important article of export to Europe, 
where it was employed in the printing of calicos. 
The tree is indigenous in poor soil throughout a large 
part of the eastern United States, and by some bot- 
anists is regarded as but a variety of the Scarlet Oak 
[Quercus coccinea, Wang.), whose foliage is a fiery 
contributor to the autumn coloring of our forests. 

Nature's fondness for yellow is manifested in her 
gift of many dyes of this cheerful color, utilized by 
her red children. The common Wild Sunflower 
{Helianthus annuus, L.) and the flower heads of the 
rank-smelling Rabbit-brush {Chrysothamnus nause- 
osus [Pursh.] Britt.) — this latter one the commonest 
shrubs of the Far Western plains and deserts, with 
rayless flat-topped clusters of yellow flowers and 
with linear leaves — have long yielded a yellow stain 
to the Indians, who transmute the gold of the blos- 
soms into liquidity by the process of boiling. An- 

222 



MISCELLANEOUS USES 

other mine of color is Shrub-yellow-root {Xanthor- 
rhiza apiifolia, L.Her.), a low, shrubby plant of the 
Buttercup family, with pinnate leaves clustered at 
the top of a short stem, and small, brownish-yellow 
flowers in drooping, slender racemes appearing in 
April or May, in woods and on shady banks of 
mountain streams from New York to Florida. The 
bark and roots are richly yellow, and from the latter 
the dye was customarily extracted. The bark and 
roots, too, of some of the Barberries (notably the 
western Berberis Fremontii, Torr.) yield a yellow 
dye, of which the Navajos used to be fond as a color 
for their buckskins. Equally in aboriginal favor 
as a source of yellow was the nearly related Golden 
Seal {Hydrastis Canadensis, L.), the thick, orange- 
colored rootstock being used. It occurs in rich 
woods from the Canadian border to Arkansas and 
Georgia — a low herb, with a hairy stem two-leaved 
near the summit which bears a single, greenish-white 
flower. It is sometimes called Yellow Puccoon.*^ 

Puccoon is a word of Indian origin, and has been 
applied to other plants as well. One of these, the 
Red Puccoon, is more commonly known as Blood- 
root {Sanguinaria Canadensis, L.), whose hand- 

6 The root is also the source of the official drug: Golden seal, 
and its collection on this account has caused the plant to become 
exterminated in manv localities where it was once common. 

223 



USEFUL WILD PLANTS 



some, white flowers are among the best beloved of 
the woodland posies of spring, from Manitoba to 
Florida. The whole plant is charged with a bitter 

juice of a reddish- 
orange color, and 
that of the root- 
stock was used by 
the Indians to pro- 
duce a bright red 
coloring matter 
with which they 
painted their bod- 
ies, and also col- 
ored articles of 
native manufac- 
ture, particularly 
baskets. An- 
other Puccoon is 
Lithospermum ca- 
nescens, Lehm., of 
the botanists. It 
is a rough-hairy 
herb of the Bo- 
rage family common on the plains of the West, bear- 
ing rather large, salver-shaped orange-yellow flow- 
ers- clustered at the summit of foot-high stems — 

224 




Puccoon 

(Lithospernum canescens) 




^ 






^ ^ 



^ 



u 



MISCELLANEOUS USES 

several from the same root. This, I l)elieve, was 
the most famous of the Puccoons as an Indian color- 
source, a good red dye being extractable from the 
large red roots. The plant sometimes went among 
the whites by the name of Alkanet, bestowed, doubt- 
less, because of its cousinship with the plant yield- 
ing the famous Old World dye so entitled. The 
Borage family, indeed, are rather rich in color juices, 
and some will stain the fingers even as one gathers 
the flowers. A red dye was also got, according to 
Porcher, from the fibrous roots of the Flowering 
Dogwood and the kindred Silk}^ Cornel {Cornus 
sericea, L.) sometimes called Kinnikinnik. Of Kin- 
nikinnik, more in a page or two. Another red may 
be extracted from the roots of the Wild Madder 
{Galium tinctorium, L,), a smooth-stemmed, peren- 
nial Bedstraw, with square stems and rather upright 
branches, narrow leaves in verticels usually of four, 
and small, 4-parted, w^hite flowers, found in damp 
shade and in swampy land from Canada southward 
throughout much of the eastern United States. 
This was one of the dyes used by the northern 
Indians to color red the porcupine quills, which en- 
tered so largely into their decorations ; and French- 
Canadian women, according to Kalm, employed it 
under the name of tisavo jaune-rouge, to dye cloth. 

225 



USEFUL WILD PLANTS 

A dark blue dye Peter Kalm found in vogue among 
the Pennsylvania colonists, derived from the Red or 
Swamp Maple {Acer ruhrum, L.), that charming 




KiNXIKINNIK 

(Cornus sericeaj 



tree whose vivid blossoms, appearing before the 
leaves, add so much of glory to the early spring 
landscapes of our Atlantic seaboard. The bark, says 

226 



MISCELLANEOUS USES 

Kalm, is first boiled in water and before the stuff 
to be dyed is put into the boiler, ''some copperas 
such as hatmakers and shoemakers use," is added. 
The extraction of a dark brown dye from the inner 
bark and the nut-rinds of the Butternut or White 
Walnut {Jiiglans cinerea, L.) is an old practice 
among country-folk, and in former times was a com- 
mon method of coloring homespun woollen cloth- 
ing. Civil War veterans will not yet have forgotten 
the butternut garments in which so many of the Con- 
federates were clad that the term butternut became a 
synonym for a soldier of the South. The various 
species of Alnus or Alder, familiar shrubs (and, on 
the Pacific Coast, trees), contain in the bark a dye 
principle of value. This, in some cases, colors a 
brownish yellow, in others an orange. With cop- 
peras a good black may be had. Before the Indians 
began to use the traders' colors, alder dye was in gen- 
eral use among some tribes, and in the old days many 
an alder bush met its death through stripping by 
artist-squaws bent on color-getting. The bark, 
peeled preferably in the spring, was boiled either 
fresh or dried, until the water became thoroughly 
colored, when it was ready to receive the article 
to be treated. 

227 



USEFUL WILD PLANTS 

A good Indian black has been got from the mal- 
odorous Eocky Mountain Bee-plant or Pink Spider- 
flower {Cleome serrulata, Pursh.), familiar to every 
traveler on our western plains, and conspicuous for 
its showy racemes of pink, long-stamened flowers, 
mingled with long-stalked, slender, outstretched seed- 
pods. Certain of the Pueblo Indians of New 
Mexico (where the plant is known among the 
Spanish-speaking population as guaco) have habitu- 
ally relied upon it for the black decoration of their 
pottery. The plants are collected in summer, boiled 
down thoroughly, and the thick, black, residual fluid 
then allowed to dry and harden in cakes. Pieces 
of this are soaked in hot water, when needed for 
paint.'^ The desert Indians of Southern California 
used to obtain a yellowish-brown dye for coloring 
deerskins and other material from a shrubby plant 
of the Pea tribe, Dalea Emoryi, Gray, bearing small, 
terminal clusters of tiny pea-like flowers, staining 
the fingers when pinched and exhaling an odd but 
pleasant fragrance. The branchlets were steeped in 
water to release the color. Another desert dye, but 
black, may be had by soaking the stems of Sueda 
suffrutescens, Wats., a somewhat woody plant of the 
Salt-bush family, with small, dark green, fleshy 

7 Harrington, "Ethnobotany of the Tewa Indians." 

228 



MISCELLANEOUS USES 

leaves, found in alkaline ground from California to 
New Mexico. 

People who have an aversion to Lady Nicotine 
may be interested in certain plants useful to weaken 
the effect of tobacco or to act as a substitute. Be- 
fore the coming of the white man, the Indian smoked 
principally as a religious rite, as an offering of re- 
spect to superiors, or to cure disease. It was re- 
served for the white man to make of the practice 
a purely pleasurable indulgence. Moreover, the 
smoking material of pre-Columbian days within the 
territory of the present United States, was quite 
different from Twentieth Century commercial 
tobacco. There are several indigenous species of 
Nicotiana, which the aboriginal inhabitants dried 
and utilized, and in some instances cultivated. 
Their customary "smoke," however, was not pure 
tobacco, but a combination with other material ; and 
this brings us again to Kinnikinnik, mentioned a 
little while ago. This word is an Algonkian-Indian 
expression signifying a mixture, and was applied by 
the plainsmen, trappers and settlers in the Fur 
Trade days to a preparation of tobacco with the 
dried leaves or bark of certain plants. Afterwards 
it came to be given to the plants themselves, the 
most important of which are these: 

229 



USEFUL WILD PLANTS 

The Silky Cornel {Cornus sericea, L.) 
a shrub of wet situations, with purplish 
branches — these and the underleaf surfaces 
silky with hairs — and flattish clusters of 
small white flowers in early summer, suc- 
ceeded in autumn by pale blue berries ; 

The Red-osier Dog^vood {Cornus stoloni- 
fera, Michx.), somewhat similar to the 
above, but less hairy and fewer-flowered, 
the berries whitish, the branches smooth and 
brightly reddish, the plant spreading by 
running suckers; 

The Bear-berry {Arctostaphylos Uva- 
ursi, Spreng.), a trailing, evergreen vine, 
w^ith little, urn-shaped, white flowers in 
spring, and crimson, dryish, astringent ber- 
ries in autumn, affecting rocky or sandy 
soil; 

The Sumac, especially Rhus glabra, L., 
with smooth, pinnate leaves and smooth 
twigs. 

In the case of the first two plants, the scraped, 
inner bark was the part availed of; in that of the 
last two, the leaves. The foliage also of Manzanita 
and Arrow- wood (species of Viburnum) sometimes 

230 



MISCELLANEOUS USES 

found favor. The ingredients of the "smoke" were 
first thoroughly dried either in the sun or over a 
fire, and then rubbed and crumbled between the 
palm of the hand — whence the French engages' 
name, hois route, applied to such smoking material. 
Though a portion of tobacco was usual in the make- 
up, it frequently was omitted — one or more of the 
non-narcotics being consumed alone. 

When our attention is once turned to utilizing 
what is growing freely around us, an almost 
exhaustless subject of remarkable fascination has 
been started ; and the folk of simple habits and gifted 
with some ingenuity find Flora a ministrant goddess 
of very varied gifts. There is almost nothing we 
can ask of her that she cannot make some sort of 
response to. Lovers of the curious may have napkin 
rings or candle-sticks from sections of the reticulated 
wooden skeleton of the savage Cholla Cactus; com- 
bination brushes for sweeping the floor or brushing 
the hair (according to the end used) from certain 
western grasses;^ combs of pine-cones; buttons of 
acorn-cups; tooth-brushes of the Flowering Dog- 

8 One, given me by a Zuui Indian, is a simple bunch of Muhlen- 
hergia ptingens, Thurb., tied about witli a string, the butt-end 
charred to serve for the hairbrush, tlie other doing duty as a 
whisk. Harrington states that among the Tewa of New Mexico and 
Arizona, the plant used for this double purpose is the Mesquite- 
grass (Bouteloua curtipendula, Torr.). 

231 



USEFUL WILD PLANTS 

wood's peeled twigs, highly recommended in old 
times for their whitening effect when rubbed upon 
the teeth. 

Certain plants may even be made to yield salt, by 
being burned to ashes. One such is the Sweet Colts- 
foot {Petasites palmata, Gray), a perennial herb 
of the Composite tribe, having large, rounded, deeply 
fingered leaves, all basal, white-woolly beneath and 
from six to ten inches broad when full grown, the 
whitish, fragrant flower-heads tubular or short 
rayed and clustered at the top of a stout, scaly stalk. 
The plant frequents swamps and stream borders 
from Massachusetts to California and far north- 
ward throughout Canada. To some Indian tribes, 
the ash of the Sweet Coltsfoot was their only salt. 
Chesnut states that the method of preparation ob- 
served by him was to roll the green leaves and stems 
into balls, carefully dry them, and then burn them 
upon a very small fire on a rock, until consumed. 

Then there are adhesives. Pine pitch naturally 
suggests itself for this purpose; but one of the best 
cements for mending broken articles may be obtained 
from the branches of the despised Creosote bush of 
the Southwestern deserts {Larrea Mexicana, already 
described). This gum is not a direct vegetable 
exudation, but is deposited by a tiny, parasitic scale- 

232 



I 




SwKE'j' Coltsfoot 
(Petasites palmataj 



233 



USEFUL WILD PLANTS 

insect in small reddish masses upon the twig-bark, 
from which it is readly scraped. The Panamint 
Indians, to quote Coville, improve its effectiveness 
by mixing with it pulverized rock, and pounding all 
together. The product is warmed before applying. 
A word about candles, and this rambling chapter 
may close. A common source of wax for candle- 
making in old times, and still not altogether for- 
gotten, is a shrub or small tree indigenous from 
Nova Scotia to Florida and Alabama, with resinous, 
fragrant leaves, and bluish-white, waxen berries, 
strung upon the branches and persisting through the 
winter. Modern botanists make of the plants two 
species — Myrica cerifera, L., and M. Carolinensis, 
Mill. They are called rather indiscriminately in 
common speech, Waxberry, Bayberry, or Candle- 
berry. The little round berries may be gathered in 
the autumn, boiled in a pot of water, and the wax, 
which floats to the surface, skimmed off. This hard- 
ens into a cloudy green mass, which, Peter Kalm tells 
us, it was customary in his day to melt over again 
and refine into a transparent green. Candles were 
moulded from this, either pure or mixed with some 
common tallow. Bayberry wax burns with a rather 
pleasant fragrance, and perhaps you have found such 
candles among your Christmas gifts. 

234 




rA.NDT.KRFT?T!Y 

(Myrica (JouroLinensis) 



235 



CHAPTER XI 

A CAUTIONARY CHAPTER ON CERTAIN 
POISONOUS PLANTS 

"Within the infant rind of this weak flower 
Poison hath residence." 

THERE is an old saying about mushrooms to 
the effect that the way to test their edibility is 
to eat a few; if you survive, they are a harmless 
kind; if you die, they are poisonous. The same 
cynic rule applies to wild plants in general, though 
with much greater chance for survival than is af- 
forded by the fungus group, since the number of 
poisonous flowering plants growing wild in the 
United States is relatively small. Nevertheless 
there are some of such common distribution that a 
brief reference to a few of these that might deceive 
the unwary seems desirable.^ 

Perhaps the plant responsible for most fatalities 

1 A useful monograph, adequately illustrated, entitled "Thirty 
Poisonous Plants of the United States," by V. K. Chesnut, was 
issued a number of years ago by the U. S. Dept. of Agriculture, 
as Farmers' Bulletin No. 80. I believe it is now out of print, but 
copies may be found in public libraries. 

236 



CERTAIN POISONOUS PLANTS 

is that common toadstool appropriately called Death- 
cup {Amanita phalloides), whose resemblance to the 
edible Agaric or Field Mushroom {Agaricus cam- 
pestris) causes it to be mistaken for the latter by the 




Death Cup 
(Amanita phalloides) 

ignorant. Any one who has not had practical instruc- 
tion in differentiating edible fungi from poisonous, 
would best leave the fungus order religiously alone. 
Mushroom gathering is a business for experts. 

237 




Wateb Hemlock 
(Cicuta maculata) 



238 



CERTAIN POISONOUS PLANTS 

A tribe of flowering plants that includes some very- 
dangerous members and needs to be treated with 
caution, is the Parsley Family — the scientists' 
Umbelliferae. To this order belongs the Water 
Hemlock or Cowbane {Cicuta maculata, L.), a peren- 
nial of marshy grounds and stream borders from the 
Atlantic coast westward to the confines of the Rocky 
Mountains. It grows from three to six feet high, 
with stout, erect stems blotched or streaked longi- 
tudinally with purple, and ample, compound leaves 
the segments of which are usually two to three inches 
long, lance-shaped and toothed. A peculiarity of the 
foliage is the veining — the veins apparently ending 
within the notches instead of extending to the tips 
of the teeth. The small white flowers, appearing in 
summer, are borne at the branch end in compound, 
long-stalked umbels, after the manner of parsley 
blossoms. All parts of the plant are poisonous if 
eaten, producing nausea and con\'Tilsions, the fleshy, 
tuberous roots being especially harmful. These are 
said to possess an agreeable, aromatic taste, and as 
they are often found exposed through the wearing 
away of the surrounding earth in freshets, they con- 
stitute a menace to inquisitive children and browsing 
cattle. Death results from eating them. On the 
Pacific coast two or three species of Water Hemlock 

239 



USEFUL WILD PLANTS 

occur, also inhabiting marshy places, and all are 
possessed of the same deadly properties. 

The famous Poison Hemlock of Greek history and 
Macbeth 's witches {Conium maculatum, L.) — the 
basis of the death potion of Socrates — is also a mem- 
ber of the Parsley family, native to Europe and Asia 
but now extensively naturalized in the United States 
in waste grounds on both sides of the continent. It 
is a smooth, hollow-stemmed, much branched, bluish- 
green biennial, sometimes as high as a tall man, but 
usually much lower, with large, coarsely dissected 
leaves, the leaf-stalks dilated at the base and sheath- 
ing. The stems are often spotted with dark purple. 
The small white flowers appear in June in compound, 
many-rayed umbels. The poisonous principle — an 
alkaloid called conia or conine — is permanently resi- 
dent in the seeds and only temporarily in other parts 
of the plant. According to Chesnut, the root is 
nearly harmless in March, but dangerous if consumed 
afterwards, and the leaves become poisonous at the 
time of flowering. The effect of the poison is a 
general paralysis of the system until death. A drug, 
conium, prepared from the plant, is a powerful seda- 
tive and has been used medicinally as a substitute for 
opium. - 

2 One wonders why hemlock, which we associate with a forest 

240 



w 




Butternut {Jitglans cincrca). The bark is the source of a 
dye used for the uniforms of Confederate soldiers during the 
Civil War. (See page 227.) 

(Courtesy of the New York Botanical Gardens.) 



3 



1 




s^- 



Poison Hf:mlock 
(Conium maculattim) 



241 



USEFUL WILD PLANTS 

Noxious berries that sometimes tempt children to 
their sorrow are those of the Moonseed {Menisper- 
mum Canadense, L.), so called because of the curi- 
ous seeds, which are shaped like a crescent or horse- 
shoe. This is a climbing perennial vine of fence 
rows and waterside thickets, indigenous from Canada 
to Arkansas and Georgia. The large leaves are 
rather wider than long with a somewhat heartshaped 
base. The small greenish flowers are scarcely no- 
ticeable, but the vine attracts attention in autumn 
because of its conspicuous bunches of berries, bluish- 
black with a bloom, which look so much like chicken 
grapes that the novice may mistake them for these. 
Stories of poisoning from eating wild grapes some- 
times get into the newspapers, and are traceable to 
the Moonseed, whose berries are poisonous-narcotic, 
a character of the family to which the vine belongs. 
The clustered, black berries of the common Night- 
shade {Solanum nigrum, L.), a naturalized weed of 
waste places everywhere, are also a tempting sight, 
but had better be avoided ; for while they are doubt- 
less harmless when thoroughly ripe (I have myself 

tree, should be applied to an herb. According to Prior in "Popu- 
lar Names of British Plants," the term was originally given in Eng- 
land to any of the Umbelliferae — the word being degenerate Anglo- 
Saxon meaning "straw plant," because of the dry, hollow stalks that 
remain after flowering. 

242 



I 




MOONSEED 

(Menispcrmu m Vanadense) 



243 



USEFUL WILD PLANTS 

tremblingly eaten them in moderation), they are said 
on good authority to be poisonous when not ripe, 
and color is not a sure guarantee that the state of 
safety has been attained. 

So, too, the crimson berries of the familiar Poke^ 
weed. Pigeon-berry or Garget {Phytolacca decandra, 
L.) should be kept out of the mouth, in spite of the 
fact that birds devour them with greediness. The 
whole plant is imbued with an active principle that 
induces vomiting and purging, and in the root this 
is so virulent that it has been known to cause death. 
As mentioned in a previous chapter, when preparing 
the young shoots as potherbs two waters should be 
used, that in which they are first boiled being thrown 
away. Another familiar weed, the Corn Cockle 
{Agrostemma Githago, L.), a purple flowered, hairy 
foreigner occurring in our grain fields, harbors 
within its seeds a rank poison. Flour in which a 
large quantity of these seeds has been ground may 
produce fatal results. Cockle seeds, by the way, are 
saponaceous and will create a lather if shaken up well 
in water. 

On the Pacific slope, in the country of the Camas 
described in Chapter II, is a plant of the Lily tribe 
in general appearance resembling Camas but with a 
bulb that is poisonous. It is realistically known as 

244 



CERTALN POISONOUS PLANTS 

Death Camas, and also as White Camas and Lobelia. 
It haunts damp meadows and streamsides, and is 
in botanical parlance Zygadenus venenosus, Wats. 
The white flowers serve to distinguish it from the 
blue Camas, which otherwise it strongly simulates. 
The effect of eating tlie Zygadenus bulb is a pro- 
found nausea accompanied by vomiting. Mr. F. V. 
Coville records a crafty practice of the Klamath 
medicine men, who would sometimes make a mixture 
of tobacco, dried iris root and Death Camas, and 
give it to a person in order to nauseate him. Then 
they would charge the victim a fee to make him well 
again ! 

A poison unsuspected by most of us resides in the 
leaves of that beautiful ef\"ergreen shrub, the Ameri- 
can Laurel or Calico-bush {Kalmia latifolia, L.), 
which glorifies with its white and pink bloom the 
spring thickets of the Atlantic seaboard. Man has 
little occasion to put these leaves in his mouth, but 
the ill effect upon cattle and sheep has been often 
reported. A like offender is the Laurel's little red- 
flowered cousin, the Sheep-Laurel or Lambkill {K. 
angustifolia, L.). Stock may also suffer fatally 
from eating the wilted foliage of the Wild Black 
Cherry {Prunus serotina, a tree already described, 
with clusters of edible, small, black, somewhat 

245 



USEFUL WILD PLANTS 



astringent fruit). The most dreaded of cattle- 
poisons, however, particularly on the Western 
ranges, is probably the so-called Loco-weed, a term 
applied to several species of Astragalus — especially 
A. molUssimu.^, Torr., distinguished by purple flow- 
ers and densely hairy foliage. The genus is of the 




Loco-weed 

(Astragalus mollissimu^) 

246 



CERTAIN POISONOUS PLANTS 

Pea family, and is a very large one, widely dis- 
tributed. There are nearly two hundred American 
species, mostly western — herbaceous plants with odd- 
pinnate leaves, spikes or racemes of usually small, 
narrow flowers generally produced from the leaf- 
axils, the seed pods mostly bladdery or swollen. 
These, when dry, have a habit of rustling noticeably 
in a passing breeze, whence another common name, 
Rattleweed. Astragalus is often abundant where 
horses and cattle graze, and certain species have been 
found to create serious trouble with animals that eat 
the herbage. They become afflicted with a sort of 
insanity, or as the Westerners say, they are 
''locoed,"^ the victims of a slow poisoning. The 
eyesight grows defective, the movements are spas- 
modic and irrational, then sluggish and feeble, the 
coat becomes disheveled and dull of color, emacia- 
tion sets in, and finally after a few months or it may 
be a year or two, death comes. It was at one time 
thought that the poirsoning was not of the plant itself 
but due to the presence of the metal barium which 
the plant drew into its system from the soil, but this 
theory is now abandoned. 

A dangerously poisonous weed is the Jimson or 
Thorn-apple {Datura Stramonium, L.), whose large 

3 Spanish loco, crazy, foolish. 

247 



USEFUL WILD PLANTS 

funnel-shaped, white or violet flowers and thorny 
seed-vessels adorning ill-smelling, branching plants, 




JiMSON-WEED 

(Datura Stramonium) 



are familiar sights in fields and waste grounds from 
the Mississippi eastward and from Canada to the 
Gulf. The whole plant and particularly the seeds 

248 



CERTAIN POISONOUS PLANTS 

are possessed of a virulent narcotic poison, wliich 
taken into the human bod}' produces vertigo, nausea, 
delirium and a general anarchy of the nervous sys- 
tem. In that quaint old work, "History and Present 
State of Virginia" (1705), by Robert Beverly, the 
author gives a curious account of what happened to 
some soldiers who made a boiled dish of the early 
shoots of the plant, supposing them to be edible pot- 
herbs. ''Some of them eat plentifully of it," writes 
Master Beverly, ''the Effect of which was a very 
pleasant Comedy ; for they turn'd natural Fools upon 
it for several Daj^s: One would blow up a Feather 
in the Air; another would dart Straws at it with 
much Fury; another, stark naked, was sitting in a 
Corner, like a Monkey, grinning and making mows 
at them; a Fourth would fondly kiss and paw his 
Companions and snear in their Faces with a Coun- 
tenance more antick than any Dutch Droll. ... A 
thousand such simple Tricks they play'd, and after 
Eleven Days, return 'd to themselves again, not re- 
membering anything that had pass'd.""* 

There are several species of Datura indigenous 
within our limits, all resembling one another in gen- 
eral look and all poisonous. On the Pacific Slope, 

4 Beverly calls the plant James Town weed, which seems to have 
been the original term, now corrupted to Jimaon. 

249 



USEFUL WILD PLANTS 

the commonest species is D. meteloides, DC, called 
toloache by Mexicans and Indians. This, like sev- 
eral species of Spanish America, has played a note- 
worthy part in the ceremonial life of our aborigines. 
An infusion of the plant was customarily adminis- 
tered in certain rites, as those of puberty; and it 
was a drug commonly resorted to by medicine men 
to induce a hypnotic state or a condition evocative 
of prophecy. Only a little while ago a California 
Indian expressed to me his faith in the power of 
toloache to unravel mysteries and reveal the where- 
abouts of lost animals. The likelihood of death from 
overindulgence makes its employment risky, and it 
is nowadays comparatively neglected. Among the 
New Mexico Zuiiis, the blossom of this Datura is a 
sacred flower, and a representation of it figures as 
an adornment of the women in some of their dances. 
Mrs. Stevenson in her '^Ethnobotany of the Zuni 
Indians," ^ records a legend about this flower worthy 
of Ovid. It seems that long, long ago while the Zuiiis 
still dwelt in the underworld, a boy and a girl, 
brother and sister, found a way up into this world of 
light, and would take long walks upon the earth, 
wearing upon their heads Datura flowers. And so 
they learned many wonderful things, and had many 

5 SOth Ann. Kept. Bureau of American Ethnology. 

250 



A 



CERTAIN POISONOUS PLANTS 

interesting adventures. One day they met the 
Divine Ones, the Twin Sons of the Sun Father, to 
whom, child-like, they prattled of what they had 
found out — how they could make people sleep and see 
ghosts, and how they could make others walk about 
and see who it was that had stolen something. 
Thereupon the Divine Ones decided that this little 
couple knew altogether too much, and should be 
made away with. So they caused the brother and 
sister to disappear into the earth forever; and 
where they sank down flowers sprang up, the counter- 
part of those that the children had worn upon their 
heads. The gods called the flowers by the name of 
the boy, Aneglakya-, and by that term the Zuhis 
know them to this day, for the flowers had many 
children and we find them throughout the land. 

In western Texas and southern New Mexico, rang- 
ing across the frontier down into Old Mexico, there 
grows a handsome shrub of the Pea family, with 
glossy, odd-pinnate, evergreen leaves of leathery 
texture, and one sided racemes of papilionaceous, 
violet-colored flowers, succeeded by long pods that 
contain about half a dozen large scarlet bean-like 
seeds apiece. This is the Bed Bean, Mescal Bean, 
or as the Spanish-speaking population call it, Fri- 
jolillo, which means the "little pink bean." To 

251 



USEFUL WILD PLANTS 

botanists it is Broussonetia secundifora, Ort., or 
Sophora secundifora, Lag. The seeds contain a 
narcotic poison that makes them dangerous particu- 
larly to children, who are likely to be attracted by 
the brilliant color. The crushed seeds have been 
used from very early times by the Indians, who, it 
is reported, could make themselves deliriously drunk 
on half a bean, and sleep two or three days on top 
of it, while a whole bean would kill a man. Among 
some tribes, as the lowas, there were religious rites 
connected with the Red Bean, and a society was 
founded upon it. 

To-day one hears little of the Red Bean Society, 
but the cult of another dangerous vegetable poison 
of the Southwest is still active. This is the so-called 
Sacred Mushroom, Mescal-button, Dry Whisky, 
Peyote, or Raiz diabolica (devil's root) — names 
given in common speech to a small cactus, Lopho- 
phora Williamsii, whose use has become a rather 
desolating factor among the present-day Reservation 
Indians of the United States. Some of these, it ap- 
pears, maintain a regularly organized association 
called the Sacred Peyote Society with a form of 
baptism "in the name of the Father, and the Son 
and the Holy Ghost," the Holy Ghost being Peyote! ® 

6 Quoted by W. E. Safford, "Narcotic Plants and Stimulants of 

252 



^ 



CERTAIN POISONOUS PLANTS 

The cactus is indigenous to the arid regions border- 
ing on the lower Rio Grande both in the United 
States and Mexico. It 
resembles a carrot in 
shape, and the entire 
plant, except about an 
inch at the top, grows 
underground. This top 
is flat and round, two to 
three inches across, and 
wrinkled with radiating 
ribs. There are no 
spines but numerous 
tufts of silky hairs, amid 
which pink blossoms are 
borne in season. The 
chemical properties em- 
brace three alkaloids 
whose effect is power- 
fully narcotic and delir- 
iant, in some respects re- 
sembling opium, Lum- 
holtz, in his *' Unknown 
Mexico," gives an inter- 




Mescal-bittox 
(Lophophora Williainsii) 



the Ancient Americans," in Ann. Rept. Smithsonian Institution, 
1916. 



253 



USEFUL WILD PLANTS 

esting account of the superstitious reverence ac- 
corded by the Tarahumar Indians of Chihuahua to- 
wards this plant, which in their language is called 
hikuli. They treat it as a divinity and Lumholtz 
was required to lift his hat in the presence of the 
dried ''buttons." Catholicized Tarahumares make 
the sign of the cross before it; and it is regarded 
as a safeguard against witches and ill fortune. It 
is claimed that its use takes away the craving for 
alcohol, which may be true; but it substitutes an- 
other, and, between Scylla and Charybdis, what is 
the choice? 

The poisonous effect of a few native species of 
Rhus upon the skin of many persons is well known. 
On the Atlantic slope the species whose caustic 
juices possess this property are the Swamp Sumac 
{Rhus venenata, DC.) and the Poison Ivy {R. Toxi- 
codendron, L.). The former is a graceful shrub or 
small tree of swampy situations, the smooth leaves 
compound with leaflets abruptly pointed and with 
entire margins. They turn in the autumn a brilliant 
red, very seductive to the gatherers of autumn foli- 
age. The panicles of greenish flowers, produced 
from the axils of the leaves, are followed by grayish 
white berries. The plant is also called Poison 
Sumac and, less correctly. Poison Elder. The 

254 



I 




Swamp Sumac 
(Rhus venenata) 



I 



255 



USEFUL WILD PLANTS 

Poison Ivy is very variable in habit, either a low, 
upright bush, or a vine climbing by aerial rootlets 




1 



Poison Ivy 
(Rhus Toxicodendron) 



over fences and far up into the crowns of treesJ 
It has leaves of three short-stalked leaflets, and 

7 Some botanists prefer to treat Poison Ivy as of two species — the 
climber being designated Rhus radicans. 

256 



CERTAIN POISONOUS PLANTS 

flowers and fruit like those of the Swamp Sumac. 
This 3-leaflet arrangement serves to distinguish the 
plant from the harmless but somewhat similar look- 
ing Virginia Creeper or American Ivy, which has 
leaves of five parts. On the Pacific Slope, the rep- 
resentative poisonous Rhus is R. diversiloha, T. & G., 
commonly called Poison Oak. It is in general 
appearance like the eastern Poison Ivy, either bushy 
or climbing, but the leaflets are variously lobed and 
toothed, suggesting an oak. Among popular reme- 
dies in California for Rhus poisoning is a strong 
decoction made by boiling the leaves of the Man- 
zanita, applied hot and repeatedly to the affected 
parts. The historian Bancroft records that a 
Spanish expedition in the Southwest early in the 
eighteenth century, under Governor Valverde, suf- 
fered greatly from Poison Oak and found relief by 
chewing chocolate and applying the saliva to the 
eruption. Rather a pleasing remedy, on the whole, 
one would fancy; and I am glad to think of those 
old campaigners in the desert having that little taste 
of sweet in the bitterness of their lot. 



257 



REGIONAL INDEX 

(For Page Numbers see General Index.) 

The notation (A) after a plant indicates that it is found only 
in the Atlantic States. The notation (W) after a plant indicates 
that it is found only west of the Atlantic States. 

East of the Rocky Mountains (including Middle 
and Eastern Canada) 

Food Plants: 

Edible Roots and Ttihers: 

Arrowhead (Sagittaria variabilis) 

Chufa (Cyperus esculenta) 

Golden Club (Orontium aquaticum) a 

Groundnut (Apios tuberosa) 

Indian Bread-root (Psoralea esculenta) w 

Jack-in-the-Pulpit (Arisaema triphyllum) 

Jerusalem Artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus) w 

Man-of-the-earth (Ipomoea pandurata) 

Sprinu' Beauty (Claytonia Viruinica) 

Virginia Tuckaho (Peltandra Virginiea) 

Water Chinquapin (Nelumbo lutea) 

Wild Onion (Allium tricoccum) 

Edible Seeds: 

Beechnut (Fagus Americana) 
Chestnut (Castanea dentata) 
Chinquapin (Castanea pumila) 
Golden Club (Orontium aquaticum) 
Groundnut (Apios tuberosa) 
Hickory (Hicoria sp.) 

259 



REGIONAL INDEX 

Hog Peanut (Amphicarpaea monoica) 
Sunflower (Helianthus annuus sp.) w 
Walnut (Juglans sp.) 
Water Chinquapin (Nelumbo lutea) 
Wild Rice (Zizania aquatica) 

Edible Fruits and Berries: 

Barberry (Berberis sp.) 

Blackberry (Rubus sp.) 

Buffalo-berry (Shepberdia argentea) w 

CranbeiTy (Oxycoeeus sp.) 

Currant (Ribes sp.) 

Gooseberry (Ribes sp.) 

Grape (Vitis sp.) 

Ground Cherry (Physalis sp.) 

Hawthorn (Crataegus sp.) 

Huckleberry (Vaccinium sp.) 

May Apple (Podophyllum peltatum) 

Mulberry (Morus rubra) 

Papaw (Asimina triloba) 

Persimmon (Diospyros Virginica) 

Raspberry (Rubus sp.) 

Service-berry (Amelanehier sp.) 

Strawberry (Fragaria sp.) 

Teaberry (Gaultheria proeumbens) 

Edible Stems or Leaves: 

Bracken (Pteris aquilina) 
Chicory (Cichorium Intybus) 
Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) 
Dock (Rumex crispus) 
Lamb's quarters (Cbenopodium album) 
Milkweed (Asclepias sp.) 
Nettle (Urtica dioica) 
Pokeweed (Phytolacca decandra) 
Purslane (Portulaca oleracea) 
Water-cress (Nasturtium officinale) 
Winter Cress (Barbarea vulgaris) 
260 



p 



rp:gional index 

Beverage Plants: 

Bireh (Betula sp.) 

Chicory (Cichorium Intybus) 

Goldenrod (Solidago odora) a 

Hemlock-tree (Tsuga Canadensis) 

Indian Lemonade (Rhus trilobata) w 

Inkberry (Ilex glabra) a 

Kentucky Coifee-tree (Gymnocladus Canadensis) 

Labrador-tea (Ledum Groenlandicum) 

New Jersey tea (Ceanothus Araerieanus) 

Sassafras (Sassafras officinale) 

Spicewood (Lindera Benzoin) 

Winter-berry (Ilex verticillata) 

WintergTeen (Gaultheria proeumbens) 

Soap-Plants : 

Bouncing Bet (Saponaria officinalis) 
Missouri Gourd (Cucurbita foetidissima) w 
New Jersey tea (Ceanothus Americanus) 

Medicinal Plants: 

American Centaury (Sabbatia angularis) 
American Pennyroyal (Hedeoma pulegioides) 
Boneset (Eupatorium perfoliatum) 
Dittany (Cunila Mariana) 
Dogwood (Cornus fiorida) 
Hoar-hound (Marrubium vulgare) 
Mustard (Brassica sp.) 
Sweet-flag (Acorus Calamus) 
Wild Cheriy (Prunus serotina) 
Wild Senna (Cassia Marylandica) 
YaiTow (Achillea Millefolium) 

Fiber Plants: 

Indian Hemp (Apocynum cannabinum) 
Leatherwood (Dirca palustris) 
Milkweed (Asclepias sp.) 
Nettle (Urtica sp. ) 
Reed-grass (Phragmites communis) 
261 



REGIONAL INDEX 

r 

Dye-Plants : 

Alder (Alnus sp.) 

Blood-rout ( Sani^uinaria Canadensis) 

Butternut (Juglaus einerea) 

Dogwood (Cornus florida) 

Golden Seal (Hydrastis Canadensis) 

Osage Orange (Madura aurantiaca) w 

Puecoon (Lithospennnm caneseens) 

Quercitron Oak (Quereus tinctoria) 

Red Maple (Acer rubrum) 

Silky Cornel (Comus sericea) w 

Spider- tiower (Cleome serrulata) w 

Sunflower (Helianthus annuus) 

Wild Madder (Galium tinctorium) 

Tobacco Admixtures : 

Arrow- wood (Viburnum sp.) 
Bearberry ( Arctostapliylos Uva-ursi) 
Red Osier Dogwood (Cornus stolonifera) 
Silky Cornel (Cornus sericea) 
Sumac (Rhus glabra) 

Salt- Substitute : 

Sweet Coltsfoot (Petasites palmata) 

Candle Material : 

BaybeiTy (Myrica sp.) a 



Peculiar Mainly to the Southern States 

Food Plants: 

Edible Roots and Tubers: 
Conte (Smilax Pseudo-China) 
Coon tie (Zamia sp.) 
Florida Arrowroot (Zamia sp.) 
Indian-bread (Pachyma cocos) 
262 



REGIONAL INDEX 

Edible Fruits: 

May-pop (Passiflora incamata) 

Summer Haw (Crataegus flava) 

Edible Stems or Leaves: 

Cabbage Palmetto (Sabal Palmetto) 

Scurvy Grass (Barbarea praecox) 

Beverage Plants: 

Cassena (Ilex vomitoria) 

Soap-Plants : 

Soap-berry (Sapindus sp.) 
Southern Buckeye (Aesculus Pavia) 

Dye-Plants : 

Kentucky Yellow-wood (Cladastris tinctoria) 
Shrub- Yellow-root (XanthoiThiza apiifolia) 

The Pacific Slope 

Food Plants: 

Edible Roots and Tubers: 

Arrowhead (Sagittaria variabilis) 

Biscuit-root (Peueedanum sp.) 

Bitter-root (Lewisia rediviva) 

Camas (Camassia esculenta) 

Chufa (Cyperus esculentus) 

Harvest Brodiaea (Brodiaea grandiflora) 

Indian Potatoes (Calochortus sp., Camassia sp., Brodiaea sp., 

etc.) 
Sego Lily (Calochortus Nuttallii) 
Tule (Seirpus lacustris) 
Wild Anise (Carum Kelloggii) 
Wild Onion (Brodiaea eapitata) 
Yamp (Carum Gairdneri) 

Edible Seeds: 

Buckeye (Aesculus Califomieus) 

Chia (Salvia sp.) 

263 



REGIONAL INDEX 

Chinquapin (Castano])sis chi'vsophylla) 

Goosefoot (Chenopodium sp.) 

Islay (Primus ilicifolia) 

Oak (Quereus sp.) 

Pine (Pinus sp.) 

Pond-lily (Nupliar polysepalum) 

Sunflower (Helianthus annuus) 

Tarweed (Madia sativa) 

Walnut (Juglans Calif ornica) 

White Sage (Audibertia polystaehya) 

Wild Oats (A vena fatua) 

Wild Wheat (Elymus triticoides) 

Edible Fruits and Berries: 

Black Haw (Crataegus Douglasii) 

Buckthorn (Rhamnus eroeea) 

Cranberry (Oxycoccus sp.) 

Currant (Ribes aureum) 

Grape (Vitis Calif ornica) 

Huckleberry (Vaccinium sp.) 

Manzanita (Arctostaphylos sp.) 

Oregon Grape (Berberis aquifolium) 

Raspberry (Salmon-berry, Thimbleberry) (Rubus sp.) 

Salal (Gaultheria Shallon) 

Service-berry (Amelanchier sp.) 

Strawberry (Fragaria sp.) 

Tuna (Opuntia sp.) 

Edible Stems or Leaves: 

Bracken (Pteris aquilina) 

Clover (Trifolium) 

Miner's Lettuce (Montia perfoliata) 

Purslane (Portulaca oleracea) 

Red Maids (Calandrinia caulescens Menziesii) 

Water-cress (Nasturtium officinale) 

Wild Pie-plant (Rumex hymenosepalus) 

Beverage Plants : 
Chia (Salvia sp.) 

264 



REGIONAL INDEX 

Douglas Spruce (Pseudotsuga taxifolia) 
Lemonade-ben-y (Rhus sp.) 
Manzanila (Arctostapliylos sji.) 
Yerba buena (Micromeria Dougla.sii) 

Soap-Plants : 

Amole (Chloragalum pomeridianum) 
Mock Orange (Cucurbita foetidissima) 
Soap-plant (Chloi'ogalum ponieridianum) 
Soap-root ( Chenopodium Calif ornicum) 
Wild Lilac (Ceanothus sp.) 

Medicinal Plants : 

California Laurel ( Umbellularia Calif omica) 
Canchalagua (Erythraea venusta) 
Cascara sagrada (Rhamnus Californica) 
Gum-plant (Grindelia sp.) 
Hoar-bound (Marrubium vulgare) 
Mastransia (Staehj's Californica) 
Mustard (Brassica sp.) 
Quinine-bush (Garrya elliptica) 
Western Dogwood (Cornus Nuttallii) 
Yarrow (Achillea Millifolium) 
Yerba mansa (Anemopsis Californica) 
Yerba santa (Eriodictyon glutinosum) 

Fish Poisons: 

Soap-root (Chloragalum pomeridianum) 
Turkey Mullein (Croton setigerus) 

Fiber Plants: 

Indian Hemp (Apocynum eannabinum) 
Milkweed (Aselepias eriocarpa) 
Psoralea (Psoralea macrostaehya) 

Dye Plants: 

Alder (Alnus sp.) 
Sunflower (Helianthus annuus) 
265 



REGIONAL INDEX 

Tobacco Admixture: 

Manzanita (Arctostaphylos sp.) 

Salt Substitute: 

Sweet Coltsfoot (Petasites palmata) 

The Southwest (Mainly in Arid Regions) 
Food Plants: 

Edible Roots and Tubers: 
Sand-food (Amraobroma Sonorae) 
Wild potato (Solanum sp.) 

Edible Seeds: 

Amaranth (Amaranthus blitoides) 

Chia (Salvia sp.) 

Goosefoot ( Clienopodium leptophyllum) 

Indian Millet (Eriocoma cuspidata) 

Jojoba (Simmondsia Calif ornica) 

Juniper (Juniperus sp.) 

Pinon (Pinus sp.) 

Salt-bush (Atriplex sp.) 

Songwal (Panicum Urvilleanum) 

Edible Fruits and Berries: 

Cactus (Opuntia sp.) 

California Fan-palm (Washingtonia filifera robusta) 

Mesquit (Prosopis juliflora) 

Sahuaro (Cereus giganteus) 

Screw-bean (Pi'osopis pubescens) 

Tomate del campo (Physalis longifolia) 

Tomatillo (Lycium sp.) 

Yucca (Yucca sp.) 

Edible Stems or Leaves: 
Bisnaga (Echinoeactus) 
Bledo (Amaranthus Palmeri) 
Cactus (Opuntia sp.) 

266 



REGIONAL INDEX 

Desert Trumpet (Eriogonum inflatum) 

Mescal (Agave sp.) 

Sotol (Dasylirion sp.) 

Spr.nish Bayonet (Yucca Whipplei) 

Wild Cabbage (Caulanthus crassifolius) 

Wild C'abl)ago (Stanleya pinnatifida) 

Wild Khubarb (Rumex hymenosepalus) 

Beverage Plants: 

Barrel Cactus (Echinocactus sp.) 
Chaparral Tea (Croton corymbulosus) 
Desert Tea (Ephedra sp.) 
Jojoba ( Simmondsia Californica) 

Soap-Plants : 

Amole (Yucca sp.) 
Calabasilla (Cucurbita foetidissima) 
Lechuguilla (Agave sp.) 
Soap-berry (Sapindus Drummondii) 

Medicinal Plants : 

Creosote-bush (Larrea Mexicana) 
Y'erba mansa (Anemopsis Californica) 

Fiber Plants: 

Carrizo (Phragmites communis) 
Mescal (Agave sp.) 
Spanish Dagger (Yucca sp.) 
Wild Heuip (Sesbania macrocarpa) 

Dye Plants: 

Barberry (Berbei-is Fremontii) 

Dalea (Dalea Emoryi) 

Desert Elite (Suaeda sulfruteseens) 

Guaeo (Cleome serrulata) 

Rabbit-brush (Chrysothaunius nauseosus) 

267 



i4l 



INDEX 



Acer, 226 
Achillea, 185 
Acorns, 68 231 
Acorus, 1!>2 

Adam's-threadand-needle, 168 
Aesculus, 81, 211 
Agave, 133, 169, 216 
Agrostemma, 244 
Alder, 227 

Black, 165 
AlgaiToba, lil 
Alkanet, 225 
Allium, 17 
Allspice, Wild, 145 
Alnus, 227 
Amanita, 237 
Amaranthus, 53, 128 
Amelanchier, 89 
Ammobroma, 39 
Amole, 168 
Amphicaipaea, 61 
Anemopsis, 202 
Anise, Sweet, 14 

Wild, 14 
Apios, 2, 59 
Apocynum, 212 
Arctostaphylos, 94, 230 
Arisaema, 37 
Arrow-arum, 36 
Arrow-head, 31 
Arrow- root, Florida, 29 
Arrow-wood, 230 
Artichoke, Jerusalem, 4 
Asclepias, 119, 214 
Asimina, 100 
Astragalus, 245 
Atriplex, 54, 119 
Audibertia, 54 
Avena, 54 
Avens, Purple or Water, 161 

Balm, Mountain, 198 



269 



Barbarea, 124, 126 

Barberry, 97, 223 

Barrel-cactus, 133, 157 

Batatas de Canada, 6 

Bayberry, 232 

Bear-berry, 230 

Bear-grass, 137 

Bear's weed, 198 

Bee-plant, Rockj' Mountain, 228 

Berberis, 97, 223 

Berry, Bay, 232 

Bear, 230 

Buffalo, 83 

Candle, 232 

Checker, 102 

Ink, 164 

June, 89 

Juniper, 78 

Lemonade, 152 

Pigeon, 197, 244 

Service, 89 

Silver, 85 

Tea, 102 

Wax, 232 
Betula, 165 
Birch, Cherry, 165 

River, 165 

Sweet, 165 
Biscuit-root, 12 
Bisnaga, 133 
Bitter-bark, 197 
Bitter root, 14 
Black-drink, 161 
Bledo, 128 
Blood-root, 223 
Bois d'arc. 221 

de plomb, 218 

roulo, 231 
Boneset, 189 
Bouncing Bet, 181 
Bouteloua, 231 
Bracken, 114 



INDEX 



Brassica, 194 
Bread, Indian, 39 
Breed-root, Indian, 7 
Brodiaea, 19, 20 
Broussonetia, 252 
Buck-brush, 175 
Buckeye, California, 81 

Southern, 211 
Buckthorn, 01 
Buckwheat, Wild, 123 
Buffalo-berry, 83 
Bullbrier, 31 
Butternut, 227 
Butter, Sahuaro, 112 

Cabbage, Poor Man's, 124 

Wild, 126 
Cabbage palmetto, 138 
Cactus, 107, 132, 231 

Barrel, 133, 157 
Calabasilla, 181 
Calamus, 192 
Calandrinia, 131 
Calico-bush, 245 
Calochortus, 19 
Camas, 21 

death or white, 245 
Camassia, 19, 23 
Camote de los m^danos, 39 
Canadiennes, 6 
Canaigre, 121 
Canchalagua, 207 
Candleberrv, 234 
Cafmtillo, 159 
Carrizo, 218 
Carum, 13 

CSscara sagrada, 195 
Cassena, 161 
Cassia, 186 
Cat-tail, 40 
Caulanthus, 126 
Ceanothus, 142, 175 
Centaury, American, 207 
Cereus, 110 
Checker-berry, 102 
"Cheese," Tuna, 110 
Chenopodium, 52, 119, 174 
Cherry, Ground, 87 

Wild, 190, 245 



Chia, 42, 152 
Chicory, 117, 149 
Chicot, 148 
China-brier, 29 
China-tree, Wild, 176 
Chinquapin, Water, 34, 48 
Chittem-wood, 197 
Chlorogahim, 170, 211 
Chocolate-root, 161 
Chrysothamnus, 222 
Chufa, 25 

Cichorium, 118, 149 
Cicuta, 239 
Cladastris, 221 
Claytonia, 16 
Cleome, 228 
Clover, 139 
Cockle, Corn, 244 
Coffee, Wild, 197 
Coffee-tree, Kentucky, 148 
Colt's-foot, Sweet, 232 
Conium, 239 
Consumptive's-weed, 198 
Conte, 28, 29 
Coontie, 28 
Cornel, Silky, 225, 230 
Cornus, 205, 225, 230 
Cota, 160 
Covillea, 202 
Cowbane, 239 
Crataegus, 92 
Creosote-bush, 202, 232 
Cress, Barbara's, 124 

Water. 124 

Winter, 124 
Croton, 150, 211 
Cucurbita, 179 
Cunila, 193 
Cyperus, 25 

Dalea, 228 
Dandelion, 116 
Dasylirion, 137 
Datil, 104 
Datura, 247 
Deathcamas, 245 
Death-cup, 237 
Desert-trumpet, 123 
Dirca, 218 



270 






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INDEX 



Dittany, 193 
Dock, Curled, 121 
Dogwood, Flowering, 205, 
231 

Red Osier, 230 

Western, 205 

Echinocactus, 133, 157 
Elder, Poison, 254 
Eleagnns, 85 
Elymus, 55 
Enoinilla, 159 
Ephedra, 158 
Eriooma, 56 
Eriodictyon, 198 
Eriogoniim, 123 
Erythraea, 207 
Eupatorium, 189 

Fever-bush, 145, 206 
Fig, Indian, 107 
Foeniculum, 14 
Folle avoine, 45 
Fuller's Herb, 183 

Galium, 225 
Garget, 244 
Garrja, 206 
Gaultheria, 102, 147 
Geum, 161 
Goat-nut, 78 
Gobernadora, 202 
Golden-club, 36 
Goldenrod, 147 
Golden seal, 223 
Golondrina, 206 
Gourd, Misssouri, 179 
Graisse de boeuf, 84 
Grape, Oregon, 97 
Grass, Bear, 137 

Scurvv, 126 
Grass-nut, 20 
Greasewood, 202 
Grindelia, 200 
Groundnut, 2, 59 
Gumplant. 200 
Gum-leaves, 198 
Guaco, 228 
Gymnocladus, 148 



Harvest Brodiaea, 20 
Haw, Black, 02 
225, Summer, 92 

Hawthorn, American, 92 
Hazel, Wild, 78 
Hedeonia, 193 
Hedeondilla, 202 
Helianthus, 4, 7, 49, 50 
Hemlock, Poison, 240 

Water, 239 
Hemp, Wild, 214 

Indian, 212 
Herba Fullonum, 183 
Hickory :\Iilk, 67 
Hoarhound. 186 
Hoskawn, 106 
Hyacinth, California, 20 
Hydrastis, 223 

Ilex, 162 
Indian Bread. 39 

Breadroot, 7 

Chocolate, 161 

Fig, 107 

Hemp, 212 

Lemonade, 152 

Lettuce, 129 

Millet, 56 

Potatoes, 19 
Inkberry, 164 
Ipomoea, 10 
Islay, 57 
Ivy, Poison, 254 

Jaboncillo, 176 
Jack-in-the-pulpit. 37 
Jerusalem artichoke, 4 
Jimson-weed, 247 
Jojoba, 80, 100 
Joshua-tree, 106 
Juglans, 227 
June-berry, 89 
Juniper. Alligator, 78 
California. 78 
Check-barked, 78 
Utah, 78 

Kalmia, 245 
Kinnikinnik, 225, 229 

271 



INDEX 



Kisses, 131 

Lambkill, 245 
Lamb's-quarters, 119 
Larrea, 202, 232 
Laurel, American, 245 

California, 139, 207 

8heep, 245 
Leatherwood, 218 
Lechuguilla, 169 
Ledum, 144 
Leek, Wild, 17 
Lemon, Wild, 99 
Lemonade, Indian, 152 
Lettuce, Indian or Miner's, 129 
Lewisia, 14 
Lilac, Wild, 144, 175 
Lily, Great Yellow Pond, 48 

Sego, 19 
Lindera, 145 
Litliospermiim, 224 
Loco-weed, 245 
Lophophora, 252 
Lotus, American, 34 
Lycium, 86 

Madura, 221 
Madder, Wild, 225 
Madia, 56 
Mahogany, 156 
Mandrake, American, 99 
Mangla, 156 
Man-of-the-earth. 10 
Manzanita, 94, 156, 230, 257 
Maple, Red, 226 

Sugar, 220 
Mariposa tulip, 19 
Marrubium, 186 
Mastransia, 204 
Mate, 164 
May-apple, 99 
Maypop, 101 
Menispermum, 242 
Mentha, 152 
Mescal, 134, 217 

-bean, 251 

-button, 252 
Mesquit, 61 
Micromeria, 150 



272 



Milkweed, Common, 119, 216, 219 

Swamp, 215 
Milfoil, 185 
Millet, Indian, 56 
Mock-orange, 179 
Montia, 129 
Moonseed, 242 
Moosewood, 218 
Muhlenbergia, 231 
Mullein, Turkey, 211 
Mushroom, Sacred, 252 
Mushrooms, 237 
Mustard, Black, 194 

White, 194 
My Lady's Wash-bowl, 183 
Mvrica, 232 
Myrtle, 144, 175 

Nasturtium, 124 
Nelumbo, 34 
Nettle, 127, 214 
Nicotiana, 229 
Nigger-head, 133 
Nightshade, 242 
Nopal, 107, 132 
Nuphar, 49 
Nut-grass, 25 



Oak, Basket, 68 

California Black, 73 
Canyon Live, 73 
Coast Live, 73 
Cow, 68 
Dyer's, 222 
Kellogg, 73 
Poison, 257 
Quercitron, 222 
Scarlet, 222 
Valley White, 73 
Valparaiso, 73 
Oat. Wild, 17, 54 
Onion, Wild, 17, 20 
Opuntia, 107, 132 
Orange, ]Mock, 179 

Osage, 221 
Oregon Grape, 97 
Orontium. 36 
Osier, Red, 230 



il 



INDEX 



Pachyma, 39 

Palm, California Fan, 112 

Palmetto, Cabbage, 138 

Palmilla ancha, 104 

Panieum, 5U 

Papaw, lUU 

Passi flora, 101 

Peach, Wild, 198 

Peanut, Hog, Ul 

Pear, Prickly, 107 

Sugar, 89 
Peltandra, 36 
Penca, 132 

Pennyroyal, American, 193 
Pepperwood, 139, 207 
Petasites, 232 
Peucedanum, 10 
Peyote, 252 
Phragmites, 218 
Phvsalis, 87 
Phytolacca, 119, 244 
Pickles, 123 
Pieplant, Wild, 121 
Pigweed, 52, 119, 174 
Pine, Digger, 75 

One-leaved, 75 

Parry, 76 

Sugar, 75, 220 
Pinole, 50, 54 
Pifion, 75 

Pitahaya, 111, 133 
Plum, Wild, 57 
Podophyllum, 99 
Poivrier, 145 
Pokeweed, 119, 244 
Pomme blanche, 7 

de Canada, 6 

de prairie, 7 
Portulaca, 129 
Potato, Indian, 19 

Prairie, 7 

Wild, 9 
Prairie potato, 7 

turnip, 7 
Prickly rear, 107 
Prosopis, 61, 66 
Prunus, 57, 245 
Pseudotsuga, 150 
Psoralea, 7, 214 



Pteris, 114 
Puccoon, 223 

red, 223 

yellow, 223 
Purslane, 129 

Winter, 131 

Quelite, 128 
Quercus, 73, 222 
Quinine-bush, 206 

Wild, 207 
Quiote, 137 

Rabbit-brush, 222 
Racine amere, 14 

blanche, 13 
Raiz diabulica, 252 
Rattlesnake-weed, 206 
Rattleweed, 247 
Red-bean, 251 
Red Maids, 131 
Red-root, 142 
Reed-grass, 218 
Rhamnus, 91, 195 
Rhubarb, Wild, 121 
Rhus, 154, 230, 254 
Rice, W'ild, 45 
Rocket, Yellow, 124 
Rose, Nutka, 93 
Rose-hips, Wild, 92 
Rumex, 121 
Rye-grass, 55 

Sabal, 138 
Sabbatia, 207 
Sage, ^^"hite, 54 
Sagittaria, 31 
Sahuaro, 110 
Salal, 102 
Salt-bush, 54 
Salvia, 42, 43 
Sand Food, 39 

-grass, 56 
Sanguinnria, 223 
Sapindus, 176 
Saponaria, 181 
Sassafras, 144 
Scirpus, 25 
Screw-bean, 66 



273 



INDEX 



Scurvy-grass, 126 

Sego-lily, 19 

Senna, Wild, 186 

Service-berry, 89 

Seshania, 214 

Shad-bush, 89 

Sheep-nut, 78 

Shepherdia, 83 

Shrub-vellow-root, 223 

Silk-tassel-bush, 206 

Silverbcrry, 85 

Simmondsia, 78, 160 

Smilax, 29 

Soapberry, 177 

Soap-plant, California, 170, 211 

Soap-root, 168 

Soapwort, 181 

Solanum, 9, 242 

Solidago, 147 

Song-wal, 56 

Sophora, 252 

Sotol, 137 

Spanish Bayonet, 137, 168 

Dagger, 104 
Spicewood, 145 
Spider-flower, Pink, 228 
Spring-beauty, 16 
Spruce, Douglas, 150 
Squaw-bush, 154 

-grass. 55 
Stachys, 204 
Stanleya, 126 
Sueda, 228 
Sugar-pear, 89 
Sumac, Dwarf, 154 

Poison, 254 

Smooth, 154. 230 

Staghorn, 154 

Swamp, 254 
Sunflower, Wild, 4, 49, 222 
Sweet-flag, 192 



Mountain, 147 

New Jersey, 142, 175 

Sassafras, 144 

Teamster's, 158 
Teaberry, 102 
Thelesperma, 159 
Thirst Preventives, 65, 94, 204 
Thorn-apple, 247 
Thorough wort, 189 
Tisava jaune-rouge, 225 
Toloache, 250 
Tomate de campo, 87 
Tomatillo, 86 
Tornillo, 66 
Trifolium, 139 
Tsuga, 149 
Tuckaho, 38 

Virginia, 36 
Tule, 25 
Tuna, 107 
Turnip, Prairie, 7 
Typha, 40 



Umbellularia, 139, 207 
Urtica, 127 



Viburnum, 230 



Wahoo, 197 
Walnut, White, 227 
Wappatoo, 33 
Washingtonia, 112 
Waxbervv, 232 
Wheat, Wild, 55 
Whisky, Dry, 252 
Winter-berry, 165 
W^intergreen, 102, 147 
Woundwort, 204 



Taraxacum, 116 

Tarweed, 56 

Tea, Chaparral, 159 
Desert, 158 
Hemlock, 149 
Labrador, 144 



Xanthorrhiza, 223 

Yamp, 13 

Yarrow, 185 

Y'^aupon. 161 

Yellowwood, Kentucky, 221 



274 



INDEX 

Ycrba bueiia, 150 Yucca, 104, 137, 168, 216 
del pescado, 211 

de vibora, 206 Zamia, 28 

mansa, 200 Zizania, 45 

santa, ii^S Zygadenus, 245 



275 



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